The Wonders of Modern Technology

I am blessed to be among a group of individuals who have been receiving an amazing number of contacts related to a shared organizational connection brought on by a reply response that in turn relates the message to everyone on the mailing list. It has been amazing to see that when people do what only a few would likely do, unsubscribe to the regular information, the opposite happens, they are mailing themselves to all the others. It is unintentional unorganized spam. Never malicious in intent, only exaggerated because of the responses to others aggravation that furthers the dispersal of responses, that causes some to respond who would not have otherwise, and again it goes on. I laughed thinking about all the times we attempt to contact someone and instead would get a phone message or an unanswered call, and now we get contacts from everywhere that were neither intended to be sent, nor desired to be received.
Another gift of this techno-age is the almost daily invitations from people in faraway locations identifying themselves as needing an agent to collect millions of dollars sitting in someone’s bank account who wants me to have it to distribute for charitable purposes, and allowing me to take a sizable fee for myself if I would be willing to take responsibility. This scam is so old, but so prevalent, and so frequently appealing to that element that “wants something for nothing” that I am sure there are those gullible to respond.
And for all our technology, the televisions with 100+ channel capacity…the last time I checked, there still was only the real ability to watch one at a time. I will subscribe to the first place that will allow me to be reasonably charged by the minutes of time I have my TV on; with lots of options to choose from. And the system that would offer no commercials would get even more of my interest. I am trying to remember the last time that I bought anything because it was advertised on television. I have eaten foods that were advertised there, but I don’t remember making the decision to buy a product based on the TV ad itself.
Perhaps it would do us well to take a technology break…to spend a day without it. Listen to the birds, read a good book, have a conversation face to face with a loved one or friend. It might remind us of what is too often missing in a time when we have given so much attention to information sources, and not enough to the personal processes of knowing one another and sharing together. The greatest need for the next generation will perhaps be to know how to engage in a personal conversation, to know how to sit and read a book, to be able to stay focused on something for more than a few moments. What we do physically and mentally trains our minds. Some patterns and practices should not be abandoned in the name of technologies that depersonalize our lives further. Let technology be a tool, not our master.