Week 2, Post 3: Computer-Assisted Technology Addiction

I really want to know what people did before cell phones. And computers. As I young child, I vaguely remember life before computer-assisted communication technology. I think we got a computer around the time I was 3rd grade. I remember using the art program Kid Pix and playing Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? on our Mac. The internet started getting popular sometime after 6th grade. I was on AIM a lot through junior high and high school. Cell phones got popular when I was in high school but I don't remember texting being big until after I graduated in 2003. Now, as a society, we are getting more and more technology dependent. I can't imagine life without a cell phone now. In fact, one of my co-workers mentioned today that she forgot her phone at home and was calling every ten minutes to check her messages in case someone called her.

Computer-assisted technology has truly changed our lives and our way of life. We are forever tied to our jobs and friends and relatives. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it has added more stress to our lives. The internet has made looking up virtually anything you can think of possible. When I can't remember some famous person's name or some fact, I Wikipedia it. In seconds, I have loads of (sometimes unreliable) information at my fingertips. I think computer-assisted technology has also made us want things in life faster. We want it NOW, not LATER. I want to know movie times NOW! So I hit the internet on my phone and voila! there it is. So when I think about life before computer-assisted technology, it may have been more peaceful and simple, but I've always wondered... if your date had a flat tire and couldn't make it to the movies, how would he let you know? You'd be at the movies thinking he'd stood you up. If you had a cell phone, you'd know he had a flat tire.