Maybe the Luddites Are on the Right Track...

I'm somewhat exhausted at the moment and would like nothing more than to crawl into bed and go to sleep. Yet, for some reason, I am sitting here at this computer writing this entry. Never mind the fact that I only managed to squeeze out three hours of sleep last night. That, coupled with the one hour nap I took in this afternoon's scorching 98 degree weather, is all the sleep I've had since rising early Sunday morning.

My lack of sleep is due, in large part, to the fact that SBC DSL services completely suck. Over the last few weeks or so, we have been having periodic internet outages for no reason at all. Suddenly and without warning the connection has been going down for hours at a time. Yesterday was, perhaps, the worst day of all. The first outage occurred at about 1:00 in the afternoon and lasted until about 5:00. The reason that this made my life so difficult was because I had a project due for a class today that required me to do a great deal of research on the internet. However, I was forced to fill my day with other things such as reading, laundry and getting a haircut. When the service was finally restored, it lasted for about 45 minutes before crashing once again. From that point on, it would come back roughly every hour or so for about twenty minutes. Because of all this, I was unable to complete the project until about 2:30 in the morning. At several points throughout the night, I cursed our dependence on such technology in the modern world.

Thirty years ago, an assignment such as this would never have existed, and I never would have gotten pissed off enough to inadvertently destroy a small glass. Thirty years ago, I would not have spent most of the night staring at a stupid little icon on my systray in order to determine the current status of my internet connection. Thirty years ago, I would have never used the word systray. Thirty years ago, I was a fetus.

On Christmas in the year 2000, I received a Palm Pilot from my parents. When I returned home, I eagerly transferred all of my contact information for everybody I knew into the handy little device and quickly disposed of the little scraps of paper spread around my desk that were the bulk of my previous filing system. I was ecstatic! No longer did I have to search through drawers when I wanted to call a friend. All I had to do was pull out my handy PDA and instantly call up their information. Everything I needed was there. I could even play games on it.

This handy device served me well for nearly ten months. Then, in October 2001, it unexpectedly flickered and died. "No matter," I thought. "I have all of this important and valuable information synced on my hard drive."

Well, within days of my Palm Pilot's premature death, my hard drive also decided to stop working. All of my contact information for everybody I knew was gone...erased from existence. All of the sudden I became That Guy. You know...Guy Who Is Always Calling You In Order To Get Other People's Phone Numbers And E-mail Addresses. There were several instances where I was simply unable to find somebody's number. In those cases, I had to wait for them to get in touch with me.

I have since returned to my previous method of keeping track of phone numbers on little scraps of paper spread around my room. I have also recently started entering phone and address data into my Yahoo address book, but I am still holding onto the scraps of paper...just in case somebody formats the internet or something.

It's not that I'm particularly averse to technology. I consider myself to be somewhat computer savvy...although not as much as some. I'm also not afraid of new forms of technology, like those old people who refuse to use Automatic Teller Machines, fearing that they will somehow lose their life savings by doing so. It's just that I am trying my best to avoid being one of those people who is so completely dependent on little technological gadgets; like those people who claim their life would be over if they lost their cell phone.

Personally, I don't have a cell phone. I don't want one. That's an odd thing for a person to say these days...particularly a resident of Los Angeles. People in these parts often react with shock when learning that I do not own a cell phone and they often give me this pitying look, as if to say, "Don't worry. I'm sure things will pick up for you soon."

The way I see it is if somebody calls my house and I'm not there then that means I'm already doing something and I can't come to whatever it is you are inviting me to or help you with whatever crisis you are currently experiencing. Just leave a message and I'll deal with it when I get home, assuming that it is still relevant.

In a lot of ways, I think cell phones have contributed to our increasing rudeness as a culture. One of the things that irritates me the most is when I am having dinner or lunch or coffee with somebody and their cell phone rings, thus diverting their attention. It's not that I'm a selfish person who demands constant attention- it's just that the person who is on the other end of the cell phone is miles away, while I am sitting right there. The person with closest proximity ought to take precedence, unless there is some kind of dire emergency.

Cell phones have also contributed to an overall societal flakiness. Plans can now be cancelled without a moments notice. Consider two individuals who have agreed to meet for lunch. Then consider that, while Person A is sitting at the restaurant munching on free bread, Person B calls to let Person A know that he or she will not be able to make it. Prior to the advent of cell phones, cancellation of said lunch would have taken place well before Person A had made the long drive to the restaurant.

I imagine that someday my stalwart resistance will be shattered and I will purchase a cell phone. I'll probably even begin doing the things I described that irritate me so much. Technology is an inexorable force that eventually drags everybody with it. Those who continue to resist quickly become irrelevant and are doomed to spend the rest of their days playing shuffleboard, eating at Sizzler, watching Lawrence Welk and getting confused by touchtone phones and butterfly ballots.