Thursday, January 3, 2013

And Why Didn’t You Show Up To Christmas Dinner?

I hate modern technology.

Yep, that’s right, I said it, I hate it…with a passion.

I know, I know, I’m sitting here now on a dinosaur computer(a desktop not some fancy schmancy laptop with pretty colors and awesome graphics) so you are probably thinking to yourself, “Apparently she doesn’t hate it that much.”

Allow me to explain.

This computer of mine is my only connection to the outside world.  No, I am not some inmate, or some 30-yr old shoveling cheesy puffs in my mouth while playing World of Warcraft in my mother’s basement. I am a single, working mother who has no money and no social life to speak of because right now there is no time or money to have one. I have laundry, work, meals to make, and fights to split up over who gets the controller to the Xbox first, or who gets the last Gogurt sitting on the shelf in the fridge.  They really need to come up with packaging kids snacks with items that are divisible by 3. Not everyone has an even number of children in their homes ya know, and there would be one less argument in my home on any given day if snack companies did that. However, that is a completely different blog topic for another day.
Getting back to the original point of my blog post here, I want to address several things that annoy the hell out of me about our modern day technology:
  • Texting vs. Personal Phone Calls: This one absolutely confuses me to no end.  I remember a time I had called someone because I was deeply upset and just needed to talk to someone. I needed a FRIEND.  I got through it alone of course, but it would have been nice to hear this friend’s voice and get my mind off of things than sitting there with my fat thumbs trying to type out all I was feeling at the moment and getting even more flustered at having to backspace every ten seconds because I typed the wrong word. Another time I called someone to get directions to somewhere I needed to be and they knew how to get there. I was driving, and even though at the time there was no law forbidding texting and driving I knew very well that was a task I could not accomplish, nor did I wish to accomplish it at that time. Not even 2 minutes after I called this person, they texted me. So why didn’t they just call me back?  It takes more effort to say the word “discombobulated” or “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” than it does to type it, don’t ya think? How is texting time saving? *smh* You can’t laugh together, or cry together or hear the tone of one’s words in a text. There is no feeling in a text. In my opinion, it’s impersonal.
  • Facebook/Twitter(and any other social network out there): Ok, I get it, it’s the latest thing in “staying connected” to your friends near and far. You get to  see that awesome green and pink sweater Aunt Ruthie made and pics of Jess’s first kiss under the mistletoe, or John and Kelly’s new baby. But really do we need to see “Bad Walmart Photos”, or posts with vulgar song lyrics in them? I’m eating breakfast, I don’t want to read about what is “shakin between the sheets”. *shivers* Ick! And how many more times do I have to see photos that tell you to “hit like and see what happens” there is no dancing monkey who sings the national anthem. No, I don’t click those posts, but it’s annoying having five of them show up on my wall, when I’m trying to read REAL posts from friends and family I actually do communicate with on there.I don’t know why someone needs 3,000 “Friends”; followers maybe, if you are a band, a budding artist or even a business. But are these people really your “friends”? Shouldn’t they be more like acquaintances? I talk to my mailman, but he’s not my friend. I also talk to the woman at Walgreens, small talk about kids and the weather, but does that make her my “friend”?  I deleted someone, and it took them two months to realize that I was gone. What kind of friend doesn’t notice you are absent from their life? And does it mean that I don’t care about them anymore? It’s FACEBOOK PEOPLE not the real world. If I delete you, I did it because I got tired of dirty pics, or videos or vulgar messages popping up on your wall and my home page no matter how many times I clicked the “restrict” or “hide these posts” button.  Or maybe I’m just tired of your drama when I have enough of my own to deal with and I always check in with how you are doing when something traumatic happens in your life but you don’t reciprocate. Doesn’t mean that you can’t call me or I can’t call you.  It’s like the social networks are LITERALLY people’s lifeline and if you have been removed from their Facebook, you have removed the IV line of friendship from them too. Utterly ridiculous.
  • Cell Phones:  This kind of goes back to the first point I made, but I have more to share on this. Please tell me why an 8 yr old needs an Iphone. Back in my day, we had quarters and a payphone. If you got stranded and needed a ride, or if you were at Jason’s house and needed to let mom and dad know you were staying for dinner, you used Jason’s house phone.  Remember call waiting? I do. I remember that was the big thing back in the day. My friend Cheri was the first one of my friends who got it. I remember we were on the phone talking and she said “hold on a sec” went to get the other line, and came back and said to me “could you hear me talking?” and I said no.  I thought that was the coolest thing. Nowadays the coolest thing for kids is having the latest Angry Birds game on their unnecessary cell phone.
    I just don’t see the need for kids under 13 to have a phone, or a kindle, or notebook or whatever they call those flat tablets.
The bottom line here, is that people are getting lazier and lazier. And the more technology we have out there, the less personal interaction we have with others as well. There are no more hugs, sure you can get “poked” but please buy me dinner first. There isn’t much socializing outside the realm of technology. I’m not saying everyone is a hermit, but I’m just saying that enjoying a story about how you got your first promotion, or crying over a broken heart as that person on the other end of the line tries to make you feel better has become extinct.
I even knew someone who was fired in an email.
Seriously?!
It’s gotten to the point where if you don’t have a social network or a cell phone you are out of the loop. One of these days someone is going to see a friend or family member on the street and the conversation will go something like this:

Kelly: “Why didn’t you show up to Christmas dinner?”
Lisa: “Oh, I didn’t know you were having dinner this year.”
Kelly: “I posted it on Facebook!”
Crazy, huh?

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