Am I ready for today's technology?
It was one of those regular mornings, I expected nothing out of the ordinary to happen, but I was wrong. A woman, too young to smell like a grandma’s wardrobe but she did, sat next to me on the bus, she was carrying a bag and a device which made her movements somewhat awkward and clumsy. She was holding a CD player. A round silver button-lined CD player. On top of that, she began to read a book.
It’s interesting how quickly we adapted to new technology over the past decades. People used to refer to several different devices for any given task: a phone to call and a contact book to check the number, pen and paper to write, a lot of patience went into taking photos, and we were all less stressed. Now, everything is on your phone and it’s easy and reductive at the same time.
Let the record show I called it: in the near future big brands will realise they can have us spend triple the amount of money if they split their technology.
I was thinking about all of this and the meaning of life when I was laying on the sofa because of adulting pains (ie: back pain, officially due to heavy lifting at the gym, but really I just sat in the wrong position and that’s my life now). During those hours of forced rest I had time to truly connect with technology by playing a CandyCrush replica game for hours. For eight hours, to be precise, during which I got up only once to eat a banana and get a bottle of water to stay hydrated.
I did not drink it.
Watch me adult.
When the boyfriend came home, finding me in the same position as when he left, he saw the game on my screen and my guilty face, and asked if, at least, I spent the day recharging.
‘Only once, but kept it plugged to the power, just in case.’
‘I was talking about your mind and body batteries, not your phone.’
The horror.
I am one of those people. Everything has to be smart. If you take a walk but aren't tracking your steps, the walk didn't count. If I have a question I would first ask Siri, even to Samsung phones. These are small things but deepen the cut between 'real life' and what a massive use of technology made of us, for example, if I see you reading a book I almost feel entitled to peek at the title, if you mention ‘the highlight of your life’, I immediately look at your cheekbones, and if you listen to a CD on public transport I write a blog post about it. When did this happen?
Image: via
It’s interesting how quickly we adapted to new technology over the past decades. People used to refer to several different devices for any given task: a phone to call and a contact book to check the number, pen and paper to write, a lot of patience went into taking photos, and we were all less stressed. Now, everything is on your phone and it’s easy and reductive at the same time.
Let the record show I called it: in the near future big brands will realise they can have us spend triple the amount of money if they split their technology.
I was thinking about all of this and the meaning of life when I was laying on the sofa because of adulting pains (ie: back pain, officially due to heavy lifting at the gym, but really I just sat in the wrong position and that’s my life now). During those hours of forced rest I had time to truly connect with technology by playing a CandyCrush replica game for hours. For eight hours, to be precise, during which I got up only once to eat a banana and get a bottle of water to stay hydrated.
I did not drink it.
Watch me adult.
When the boyfriend came home, finding me in the same position as when he left, he saw the game on my screen and my guilty face, and asked if, at least, I spent the day recharging.
‘Only once, but kept it plugged to the power, just in case.’
‘I was talking about your mind and body batteries, not your phone.’
The horror.
I am one of those people. Everything has to be smart. If you take a walk but aren't tracking your steps, the walk didn't count. If I have a question I would first ask Siri, even to Samsung phones. These are small things but deepen the cut between 'real life' and what a massive use of technology made of us, for example, if I see you reading a book I almost feel entitled to peek at the title, if you mention ‘the highlight of your life’, I immediately look at your cheekbones, and if you listen to a CD on public transport I write a blog post about it. When did this happen?
Image: via
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