I'm reminded how technology has made its way into my life every time I get in my vehicle, and put it in reverse. That's when the little screen comes to life with a view of the area behind, and an overlay of what way my vehicle is pointed, and how turning the steering will affect the direction it will go.
Forty-seven years ago I used to drive a nuclear powered fast attack submarine for a living. In front of the handling stations (rudder and sail planes on the right, and stern planes on the left) was a display that showed a representation of where the submarine was in relation to where it was headed, and how close to requested depth it was. It was top secret stuff at the time, but now I have basically the same system in my personal vehicle. Only going in reverse.
Not once when I was sitting there trying to keep the display from showing me off course, or out of the depth zone did I think this should be in a car. It actually repeated what we used to always do by reading the numbers off a series of gauges, which was to me less stressful. But the diving officer, and officer of the deck could see what was going on with just a glance, as the gauges were harder to read from the distance they would normally be from the control stand. So I learned to live with it.
Just like I'm getting used to using the rear view camera in my vehicle. I don't like it, but because of the way the car is designed, it's much like being in that sub again, as it is very hard to see what is happening when going in reverse.
So sometimes technology is helpful, but it is nice to get away from it. I got a cheap, no-contract smart phone just so I could have a weather app, and access my Flickr account on the go. I never made or took calls on it. I eliminated any app that I had no use for, such as all the social media ones, games, Amazon, YouTube, and anything that was basically designed just to let the Great Google know where you were, and what you were doing. I taped over the rear facing camera until I found out it interfered with the touch screen. I shut it off every night, and wouldn't turn it on again until I was ready to leave the abode.
And even though it was very handy for what I did use it for, it was still to me a burden to have it around, as every day someone would call its number which I had never given out, and I had to cancel the call just to get the thing to stop ringing. It was hard to handle with its slick shell, so I put a rubber cover on it, and then it wouldn't go in my phone holster, so I had to find a pocket for it to ride in, which meant rearranging the stuff I carried all the time.
And through all that, I still had my old flip-phone for making and taking calls on. So what was the use? The only things that I wanted to do with it were the very things I can't do with the flip-phone: weather, maps, Flickr, reading e-mails, and the photography apps I was planning on installing. But a system update caused it to only let the non-native apps (ones that I installed) work when the phone had a WiFi connection. It was coming up on its service renewal date, so I just let it die. I miss it every so often, like when I want to know how soon it's going to start raining, or want to show someone the photos I've taken. But it's good riddance if you ask me.
No, Akiva, you are not a Luddite. You're like me, trying to find my way through all this wireless mess to find a clearer picture of how things should be. What to embrace, and what to ignore are the main themes of my life anymore. I don't even watch much TV, as the shows are just rehashed older versions, or multiple copies of the same thing (how many NCIS shows does CBS need?). And the commercialism of stupidity in shows like Big Brother just shows how crass the networks are.
So hang in there my brother, and you'll make it through.
PF
