We Don’t Use Technology—It Uses US
Thoreau said, “We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us.” As I lift the couch cushions searching for the television remote, I’m missing my show. I could just as easily walk to the TV and push the buttons. But I resist; not sure why.
Our dependency on technology must be the same reason why I don’t know anyone’s Number by heart. My phone remembers numbers for me. We all used to remember a bunch of numbers. I still remember my grandparents’ number, Pilgrim, or PI 4-2426. And, the exchange in Manhattan was Murray Hill.
I don’t have to be home to watch my favorite show I can TVO it. I can begin to watch the World Series or the Super Bowl, go to the bathroom—even if I have food poisoning and stay in there for hours and not miss a second, except the commercials. Which reminds me, poison and poisson, which I think is French for fish, sound and look so similar. Is that a fair warning that fish can be poisonous? And, pollo is Spanish for chicken. Do the romantic languages begin the spelling of all their meats with P?
The reason why all these ideas float in my head is because of technology. I spend too much time playing X Box, and I’m on my cell phone all the time. My cell phone makes it impossible to hide from my friends, or the government. Sure, the GPS helps you find places, but it helps themfind you. Plus, I carry my laptop everywhere I go—especially at Starbucks. I have to look like I belong, don’t I? All this has caused my brain to have a critical mass meltdown.
So, maybe Thoreau was right—perhaps I should go to the woods to live deliberately. But then again, I don’t have the servants to bring me breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Damn all my youthful idols, Ginsburg, Dylan, Cleaver and Lichtenstein are phonies.
