Technology run amok

I keep hearing about how they are expanding cell phone use to connect to the internet and email. Good grief. I don’t want to be that connected. I don’t want my cell phone taking pictures, playing games with me or reminding me of appointments. I don’t even want it to ring, actually. I think phones are for making phone calls. Preferably me, making phone calls, not other people making them to me.

When I first moved to Oregon from Alaska, Mark suggested that I get a cell phone in case I got lost and needed help finding my way home. This seemed like a good idea, since my little Alaska town didn’t even have so much as a traffic light much less a full freeway system. I was a bit overwhelmed as I tried to get around. And it was a good thing I had it – I can’t tell you how many times I had to call Mark to say “As far as I can tell, I’m at the corner of ‘Walk’ and ‘Don’t Walk’ – how do I get home?”

So OK – I got a cell phone, which I kept in the car, usually with a low battery (and a car charger) and I used it for emergencies. I never got over that view of cell phones. Even today the only people who use my cell phone to call me are Mark and Todd. At least I keep it ‘on’ now, in case they DO call, but each time it rings it startles me into a jump and a gasp.

I don’t do much better, attitude-wise, with my other technology. I have a laptop computer and a wireless network connection so I could work anywhere in the house but I almost never unplug the computer, mouse and printer and move away from my desk. It just doesn’t occur to me. When I first started using computers they were big desk versions – and I guess I’ve never gotten over that view of them. (When I first started using them it was with DOS as an operating system and no browsers to explore the internet, which didn’t have any pictures on it yet anyway – it’s been a long time.)

Obviously I have trouble not only aligning my mental picture of technology with the actual technical state of technology, but with using something new at all! I never even use my microwave for anything besides thawing things out – just because I learned to cook on a stove and can’t get away from that. (The ONLY reason I got a microwave the first time was because there was a hole to fill in the cabinets of the kitchen in the house I had just moved into.)

I think technology should fit us, not the other way around. Just because there are bells and whistles, doesn’t mean I have to ring or blow them. I’m very firm on that.

It just leaves me with a problem every time I have to get a ‘new’ something and figure out how I can make it work for me – the old way.