Over teched
Even though I live in Mexico, parts of the United States sneak into my life through my email inbox. For some reason my SPAM filter hasn’t been working very well lately, and I have been inundated with all kinds of offers.
I have won contests I never entered. I can order a cure for male pattern baldness, and I can grow my member larger, and enjoy longer erections and keep my Chinese, Russian or Latino bride sexually satisfied in bed while studying at on online university.
I’m not sure why those spam people can’t develop a gender filter because my name is my email, and I’m pretty sure most Victoria’s don’t need most of the above- mentioned material! But who knows?
Yes, although some people may doubt this, we really do live in the century of technology. I just don’t have to like it! I want to know why it is that every time I become completely used to an operating system for my computer, they upgrade it and I have to learn everything all over again?
Meanwhile, I have been forced, beyond my better judgment to become a part of the social media craze so that I can find it possible to keep up with my family of the younger generation. I can deal with Facebook although I know that everything, I place on there is looked at and recorded and analyzed. And as for the other site…no way am I going to become associated with something that’s name began with t w i t and then renamed “X”.
And now, in case you miss the adventure of your friend in line at the grocery store posted on FB, your telephone can keep you connected! You can “What’s Ap” someone to find out they are standing in line at the grocery store. Or you can take a photo of the label on a jar of spaghetti sauce and blow it up so you can actually read the ingredients. Or your “smart phone” can give you directions to your next destination…if your software is good enough.
There are “Aps” or applications available for anything you can imagine. And many more I couldn’t even imagine. I liked it better when I could just dial a number and make a quick call. Now I feel like I need a master’s degree in engineering in order to make a telephone call. I’ve declared myself too dumb for a smart phone.
I’ve watched the 40-somethings, and younger crowd and wondered if they would have to have their electronic devices, phones, pads, etc. surgically removed from them. But with Aps with their medical information, their favorite shopping, even the ability to shop on their phone it seems they are becoming more dependent on these electronic gizmos.
Sitting in a group, you can prepare yourself for all sorts of strange noises and ringtones. Music, whistles, buzzes, beeps, cartoon noises, songs announce the caller. And people running their own business cannot have a conversation without the darn thing interrupting everything.
OK. My age is showing. But is it so old fashion to want to have a conversation with people without being interrupted by something electronic? Once while at lunch at a reunion with my sisters, I looked around, and realized that while we were in a nice restaurant, we weren’t enjoying each others company, three of the four of us were on the telephone with someone else. Our table of four was actually squeezing in seven conversations. I asked everyone to turn off their cell phones. They looked at me like I was from another universe!
Are we losing the art of personal conversation? As our technology skills advance do our interpersonal skills degrade? There is nothing I enjoy more than a good conversation. To watch the facial expressions the light in the eyes, the raised eyebrows the smiles, the hand gestures…all which are enhanced without the use of a phone or tablet.
And while I can really enjoy time away from these tools, can we please not lose sight that they are tools and not yet extensions of the human body.
And then there is AI. Artificial Intelligence. Computers that can allegedly write. And “think.” No. Don’t even get me started! No really, I have a word limit!
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