Chapter 5.4: The Technology Age

I love technology. I really really do. Have you ever seen the Eddie Izzard clip about computers? I do not have techno fear; I have techno joy!

(there is swearing, just to warn you. And, the part I'm talking about is right within the first two minutes, though the rest of it is also rather funny.)

Yes, I love my technology. I really do throw the instructions out the window when I get something new (because I am impatient and actually learn better just clicking things until I find what I want. Or Wikipedia-ing it). I know that I am irrationally attached to things like my laptop and the microwave.

And because I live in the technology age, I don't have to worry about tracking documents all over the country from twenty years ago like my mom has had to do for her Medical Assistant program documents. Instead of trying to get a hold of an army base in Illinois and having them find an immunization card from thirty years ago, I can simply request what I need and have it looked up in a database. It's rather handy.

Having a laptop allows me to easily create documents and when needed I can change them with just a few quick keystrokes (or slow keystrokes depending on how boring the changes are). I can write novels and when an editor (because in this scenario, I have one) sends back revisions, I can pull up the document and type over what was there before. As little as twenty five years ago, I would have had to retype the entire thing to make a few simple corrections. God help you if you had a spelling error. You would have to retype an entire 200 page manuscript simply because you hit "teh" instead of "the".

If you still question the awesome that is the digital age we live in, just think of this: my dad's current cell phone has more processing power than it took to put Neil Armstrong on the moon. Also, watch this video:

On the other hand, I think technology has some downsides. I fully believe we're getting closer and closer to the technological uprising every day. The day when our computers decide they take orders from no one and our GPS drives us into a lake or haunted woods for the wolves before conking out entirely.

But there are downsides happening right now too. For example, my computer absolutely died on me about two weeks ago. It did let me take files off so I thought, "no problem. I'll put the files on this external hard drive and then reset the computer to factory standards." I believed I did that. However, when I went to reload everything this morning there were no files in the folders on that drive. I lost all my word documents--which as a writer is completely devastating. Music I can get back, pictures I can build up again, but word documents can't be put back. If I had paper versions, they may be disorganized, but I would have something tangible to hold.

However, technology my foe and friend, nemesis and mon amour, gave me back some of the files. Because email attachments will stick around forever. I was able to comb through my emails and pull some of the items I'd lost, along with a few that were on my flash drive. It's nowhere close to what I had, but it's a good start. And without technology, I wouldn't be able to get my pictures off of Facebook.

So on the one hand, I love the convenience. On the other, I miss the tangibility. It seems like the words and images don't really exist unless you can hold them in your hands. Online they are simply a construct. It's why I don't care for ebooks, though I know many people love the convenience. Which I get because believe me, travelling with fifteen books in your carry-on is a lot heavier than carrying a Kindle or Nook.

So to sum up, I love my laptop; I hate change. I don't want updates. But I want to send mail across the country in the blink of an eye. I'm complicated. How do you feel about our technological wealth?