Somebody somewhere once came up with the brilliant ploy of tricking us into thinking that technology would make our lives easier… and we still fall for it every day.
OK, so there are some really useful inventions, the microwave, the washing machine and the automatic air freshener to name but a few but how many just cause us more frustration and make us waste more time than they’re worth.
Computers. Really? They make your life better? When they suck you in to Facebook and Twitter and doing a million things online which seem really important at the time but you can never quite remember why… then they inexplicably won’t turn on one day making you fear that you’ve lost all of those ‘important’ files you had on there.
Cell phones… oh no, I’m not going to even go there.
How about the universal remote, which takes you from being able to switch on the TV but not play a DVD to not being able to do anything at all?
Or maybe the crown jewel of all innovations… the digital camera. Now, instead of taking a couple of rolls of film with you on vacation and then having to sort through 48 photo’s to see which ones will go in your album, you take your digital camera and keep snapping away at everything you see, trying to get that perfect shot. When you get home, you then find you need a two week vacation just to go through them all.
Some Useful Technology
I am just rolling out a new piece of business software which I’ve bought called WHMCS. It doesn’t really matter what that stands for, all you need to know is that it’s genuinely changing my life for the better. It’s automating tasks for me which previously took me hours to do, it’s bringing data together for me in a way I hadn’t previously dreamed possible and it’s already having a positive impact on my working life.
The question is, does it adequately offset the hassle and frustration I get from the other programs, gizmo’s and time-saving-devices which clutter up my life?
I don’t know. Sometimes I wish I could just ditch it all and go live on a desert island free from all that modern technology! (one with hot and cold running water, electricity and satellite TV, of course 🙂 )
How about you? Does all this technology around you actually change your life for the better? Or do we keep falling for the lie that the NEXT thing we buy will be the one which really improves our lives?
For the most part it helps…I think. 🙂
But sometimes I get distracted by it.
Yeah.. I'm with you… but for me it's more "sometimes I DON'T get distracted by it!"
I am easily distracted, so I'm not one to want the latest gizmo. But that business software you speak of sound interesting…
I was trying to reply to this but kept getting distracted by that new business software….
I do think technology has changed life for the better.
I read in the paper the other day that western Hungary was hit with toxic sludge. My daddy was born in western Hungary. I have cousins still there. I was able to google the site of the spill, find out how far it went, and then compare it to where my cousins had moved out to and my daddy's old village. The good news: the spill was kilometers away. The bad news: the spill hit the Marcal River which went into the Raab River (which goes through the county my cousins live in) and into the Danube.
Thirty years ago, we would have read the paper and called the post office, where they would have sent a messenger to go get a family member who would call back collect from the post office. (Seriously. This village was not exactly rockin'…). Now I can google the general information I need to find out if they have been hit, and send them a Facebook Message asking them to give an update as to how they are personally. (Yes. They have electricity now) All this while they are still asleep in their beds and the post office is closed for several hours. (Seven hour time difference, you know…)
You're right, Helen, there are some EXCELLENT uses for technology and I guess you can't get the good without the bad… maybe I just need to take my ADD meds more often… 🙂
I love tech and hate it. Somehow, I'm addicted to blogging…but I don't miss it when I go on vacation.
Love and hate is EXACTLY how I feel. I used to be a computer installer/repairer and I LOVED my job but I would end up declaring how much I hate computers at least once every day!
You are my hero. Someday I can only hope to need WHMCS. I love and appreciate technology but I'm not a hoarder. I don't need to own everything. I can admire others fancy schmancy iPhones and software. Oh sure, I like to have good stuff and I do, but I take care of it and wouldn't dare comment otherwise for fear of offending said technology…which by the way makes it possible for me to help support my family…at home…in my pajamas…with a cat on my lap and plenty of non stale coffee.
I don't think I've been anyone's hero before! 🙂
I'm very good at resisting buying one of everything but I hate myself for resisting because I SO want an iPad.. and a Kindle… and a Nook… and an Android… and the New Windows Phone… and…
I went on vacation for 2 weeks in July and came back with 1,800 photos on my DSLR. Craziness!
I hear you man but I think its a matter of your surroundings. In my current environment, I need technology. If I wasn't in a place where everything was dependent on it, I think I would manage just fine and not miss it at all.
1800 photo's!
That's amazing!
This is why we recently realized that we haven't printed a single photo in 5 years… because we just don't have the time to go through them all and select the ones to print!