Technology

So in the past few months I have really had some experiences where I had to truly evaluate a few things and force myself to come to the reality of the society we live in. Now, I am going to make a disclaimer that I am by no means living in the dark ages. I have nice, technological things. Among those things are a blackberry, my lap top, the internet, a PS3, a wii, a Hi-Def television, an ipod nano and my most prized of them all, my nook. That’s a lot of technology. However, I am learning, for many it is not enough…

I have no intention of buying an ipad, an iphone, an Xbox Kinect, a fancier car, a better mp3 player or upgrading from my whopping ONE YEAR old phone (GASP!). I look around though and I see people doing this left and right. I mean seriously, if you already have an ereader, an ipod, a lap top and a smart phone, why waste the hundreds of dollars on an ipad? You ALREADY have the technology to do all the things that an ipad can offer. The answer I most often get? Convenience. With the ipad you can do all those things on one simple device. Seriously?! I mean seriously. What, your bag is too heavy to carry around four devices that total less than 10 pounds? That is a ridiculous answer in my book.

Many of my nearest and dearest friends and family are the technology type. So please understand I am not saying I don’t like these people, I just simply don’t get them. And even my friends racing out to be on the ipad2 list are aware I think they are completely ridiculous. I see what these things cost and I see college fund money, savings for a real vacation, down payments on a new “slightly used” car, debt pay offs…..the list just goes on because I am a practical Patty. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. If you don’t need it, don’t waste the money on it.

I wonder what would happen to all the people who have every stinking form of gadget available out there if the internet just crashed. I mean up and just quit working forever. What would happen if we were REDUCED (said with oozing sarcasm) to writing letters and listening to the boom box and making land line calls. THE OUTRAGE! THE BLASPHEMY! THE….peace….the complete and utter peacefulness.

I read a blog the other day written by a man who earns his living by blogging and he recommended one day a week to completely “un-plug.” I say kudos to him and recommend everyone try it. Start small if you have to…but give it a try. I will never spend hundreds on a ipad or the new iphone or a skinnier TV, but that’s because I want to take a real vacation with my husband and start a family. So what I find to be important to spend my money on seems frivolous and ridiculous to the person who’d rather be holed up in their house with their technology. To each his own, I am afterall, a woman who is strongly considering cloth diapers…..what do I know?