Technology

I was wondering the other day if all this technology is helping us or hurting us and at what cost? What are we missing out on because of it...

I have read a couple of articles about the written word and books being on the decline and the problems with kids creating a new "texting language" and them not knowing how to spell, write or read. I hope someone else see this as a problem. Then you have the Apple's and Microsoft's and any other tablet manufacturer trying to convince us that you could stop all the printing press today and use their readers and save the environment (because you wouldn't be cutting trees down and that's another story). Except for the daily local newspaper (and the Wednesday free edition of the Summerville Journal Scene), a couple of magazines, the Bible and an occasional book, it wouldn't cause me too much pain. But even as a causal reader, I do think it would be tragic if no more books were printed because there is something about have to turn to page 6C to get the rest of the story, something about turning the page, something about using a bookmark, marking a page where you stopped reading, or rereading a couple of pages or chapters because you don't know where you stopped reading before falling asleep (while all the time thinking this all sounds familiar). Aubrey loves to read books and loves turning the pages. I don't think hitting a button or sliding your finger across the screen would be the same to her...even if she occasionally tears a page.

What about the weather channel and every local news station between here and California having some kind of the latest and greatest radar and forecasting software that can tell you what street and whose house it is raining on. However, if we kept track of when they are right vs total forecasts given they would be below the Mendosa line - .215. I always thought that would be a good job because if you get it wrong people will still turn in tomorrow to watch. Regardless of their accuracy, today, we as a society plan our lives around their forecasts and even don't do something because there is a chance of rain or a thunderstorm. I had someone that I know recently start a 2 hour trip to visit their parents and were about an hour into the trip when their parents called and told them that there were severe thunderstorms warnings they rest of the way and they should return home. Like any good child they turned around and returned home. I guess you can look at it two ways - they potentially avoided bad weather and maybe an accident or they missed out on spending time with family. I probably wouldn't have been the obedient child in that situation and would have kept on going thinking it's not raining now or it's not going to be that bad. I am not advocating making stupid decisions that will get you on page 4B of the Charleston paper like playing golf in a lightning storm (but if I had a round going like the Priest in Caddyshack, I probably would have tried to finish) but I have a problem when I see people not doing something because it might rain or there might be bad weather ahead, guess what it might not rain. I have played a lot of golf when it looked like it was going to rain or the forecast was for rain or the weather channel radar showed it raining where we were playing - maybe that because it never rains on the golf course (that's what my mother would always say). You could also get caught at the bottom of a waterfall in a thunderstorm with no umbrella or rain coats because you wondered if the people with the rain coats in the parking lot knew something you didn't..they did but they missed out on an adventure of sitting under a canopy of trees huddled together trying to stay dry, wondering when we should attempt to leave, thinking a couple of times on the way back that you had just been struck by lightning. They don't have a story to share on their blog - how boring would it be if it was we had our raincoats and we got caught in a rainstorm...you dare devils oh, to live a day in your shoes).

Part of life is about the adventures and the stories that come from it. I just don't want technology to prevent the adventures and stories from happening and from being able to read about it in the newspaper. My theory is technology in moderation...