Techno-phobe expresses fear

By Sean Mendelson

So I'm watching Regis and Kelley's "High-Tech Week" and none of the high-tech gadgets work. Regis, of course, is making fun of "High-Tech Week" and laughing as the guest spokeswoman struggles to fix the things that she came to show off. The vacuum's compartment doesn't close, the voice-activated lamp doesn't respond and the unbreakable light bulb breaks.

This is an important example to me of the direction in which our world is headed. We're so excited about technologies that are supposed to make our lives more efficient and expedient but in the end only give us bigger headaches and distance us as people.

On "The Today Show," the same morning as that Regis episode, Matt Lauer said something to the effect of, "Let's learn some new benefits of using a cell-phone." Spontaneously, I turned off the television, which is rare for me.

Everyone who walks across campus talk-yelling on their flashy colored cell-phones, raise your hand! Now put it down stupido freakazoid! Social technologies (that's right) like cell phones are one of my biggest pet peeves. Maybe you people who have those annoying two-minute classical phone ringers can actually listen to some classical music for the first time in your life.

Computers are another headache. As soon as I graduate, mark my words (but don't hold me to them), I'm destroying my computer. I will have no use for it after academia. [Side-note: My computer crashed recently and I almost lost my precious songs that I've written. True story - It crashed right after I wrote a song about technology. I lost that song. And no I didn't back it up. Thus I do not trust the computer.]

All these technologies, especially e-mail and cell-phones, distance the real, face-to-face interactions that define us as humans. Let me just say, not all technology is bad, just most of it

I'll leave you with words from Bill Joy, a writer for "Wired" magazine: "I have always believed that making software more reliable will make the world a safer and better place; if I were come to believe the opposite, then I would be morally obligated to stop this work. I can now imagine such a day may come."

Until next time, this is S. Middy signing off.