Resistance

I like to think I'm "down" with most things, technology wise.  I'm a whiz on the computer and I'm the one that sets up our TVs, phones etc.  This being said, I have a love/hate relationship with technology.  I love that it can keep us completely connected, but at the same time, I hate how it's taking over our lives and eliminating certain aspects.  Here's my POV on a view current technological trends:

e-Books
I will never own an e-reader thing.  While it may appear to be handy to have 500 books stored in a small tablet, I have no need to have 500 books at my finger tips.  Also, I like the feel of having a book in my hands, being able to flip the pages.  I like the smell of new books.  I like having a bookcase with books on it.  I like using bookmarks.  I like that my enjoyment of a book isn't dependent on batteries.  Or whether the sun is glaring off the screen, making the words illegible.

Children's Toys
I try to stay away from toys that require batteries.  When Kat was an infant, non-electronic toys were tough to find.  I preferred toys that squeaked or rattled, rather than the ones with flashing lights and music.  Yes, we do have a play kitchen that talks, a kid's laptop and a few other electronic toys, but the majority of her toys don't shake, rattle, roll and sing.  She has blocks, balls, play food, vintage Fisher Price sets and so on.  And you know what?  She prefers these toys.  The ones that run on batteries get boring to her very quickly because there's limited things she can do with them.

Children's Reading Aids
Kat will learn how to read the good old fashion way - reading aloud to me.  I will be the one to help her sound out words.  I will be the one to help her with the alphabet, letter sounds, short vowels etc.  I don't want a little electronic device with a tinny voice telling her what to do.  If she wants to listen to a story and follow along in a book, it won't be a v-tech screen in front of her...it will be a tape recorder, headphones and waiting for the chime so she knows it's time to turn the page.

Cell Phones
While we own a cell phone, we rarely use it.  It's an old-school flip open phone (gasp!) and it's one perk is that it has a camera (which we never use).  We don't have internet on it and there's no GPS or restaurant finder (double gasp!).  We don't even text.  We have a pay-as-you-go plan.  In total, I think our cell phone costs us maybe $80 a year.  The only time we really use it is when one of us is going out of town.

I have no desire to upgrade to an iPhone 73 or whatever they're at now.  I don't want people to be able to reach me whenever, wherever.  I watch other people texting (while driving, standing in line, waiting for the doctor etc.) and I just think, "What the hell is so important that you need to text back and forth six or seven times about?".  If it's about picking something up on the way home, a simple, "Buy milk" should be suffice.  If you have a funny story to share, can't it wait until you see each other face to face?

Facebook
Although I am on Facebook, I rarely post status updates.  If I do, I try to make it funny.  I don't post cryptic messages ("What do I do now?!?") and try to bait people into responding.  Our lack of using a cell phone ties in with this, in that I don't care to constantly post about where I am and what I'm doing.  I do not have a burning desire to let people know I'm at a certain store or what I'm doing at any given moment.  As I'm typing, I'm realizing that it comes down to privacy - I don't want the entire world knowing what I'm doing and where I'm doing it ("Buying peaches at Safeway...yum!").  Who the eff cares?

DTVR
I don't even know if that's the right acronym for it...the recording/pausing/rewinding live TV thing?  Again, we will never own one of these things.  We don't have a use for it.  If I miss a program, I simply watch it on the computer.  Our iMac screen is the size of a small TV anyways, so it's pretty much the same thing.  And I'm not paying any extra on my cable/phone bill :)

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Well, that about covers my rant on electronics :)  I just want to point out that I don't judge anyone who uses any or all of these things.  The point of this post was simply my point of view and my resistance to some technology :)

Happy Friday, everyone!