Not Everything Is Progress!

Remember the days when we didn’t have computers? It really wasn’t all that long ago when typing a report was a major production. We were very careful about typing back then. The closer to the bottom of the page we got, the more careful we were. Heaven knows, we didn’t want to have to start all over again because we make a mistake at the bottom of the page. There’s no telling how many trees were sacrificed at the hands of unskilled fingers.

Technology is our friend. It’s a mixed blessing at the same time. I really do wish that technology didn’t insist on doing ALL my thinking for me. I don’t want word processors that change words before I’ve finished typing them and insert lines that I can’t get rid of. It’s true that I do make mistakes. I write incomplete sentences and misspell words from time to time. But I really would like to be allowed to think for myself.

Call me old-fashioned, but I’m insulted by the programs that promise to write my headlines and automatically write entire articles for me. I really can figure out what I want to say in my own good time. And, I really would like to learn how to use the programs I have before I’m forced to buy new ones.

Perhaps I’m a bit of an organization freak but I really do get very angry when I discover strange files on my computer that I KNOW I didn’t put there, when I haven’t got a clue what one of them is supposed to do, and when I can’t find files in a hurry because some programmer somewhere decided it should be buried in some mysterious hidden directory.

Perhaps, it’s just a peculiarity that sets some of us apart. We love technology. But we do long for simplicity and the ability to control our own environment. We prefer telephones that don’t have to be programmed before we can use them to talk with family and friends; we really don’t need phones that take pictures…. a simple camera would do very nicely, thank you very much.

We see progress and innovation as very good indeed. After all, progress and innovation have given us pleasures we never even dreamed possible, like car seats that warm our behinders even before the engine has had time to warm up. But, while many of us are thrilled by all the new play toys on the market, we’re not likely to buy into all of them just because they’re available or just because marketers think we need them.

Some of us still believe that less is more.