Too attached to technology

February 4, 2010 by Samuel Powers 

Are we getting too addicted to our savvy inventions?

Here in America, I love my fast food chains, my expensive cell phone with a crippling monthly plan, my cable TV and high-speed Internet.

These are my life’s necessities. They are more important to me than food, water or shelter. After all, they define my life. How can I live without them?

Nearly everything in this country is getting bigger. LCD TVs stretched longer than the length of the entertainment centers that are supposed to hold them are now fashionable. Cars and SUVs, of course, have grown over the years.

Only when the gas-price crisis hit a couple of years ago did people realize how excessive vehicles like that are.

Vehicles like Hummers that are made for off-roading and rugged terrain would cruise through city streets without a speck of mud or flaw in the tires.

What made monstrosities like the Hummer popular? One day, some ill-minded celebrity probably had the notion that additional lights and subwoofers could attract more attention because they lost the latest movie role to Christian Bale and felt insecure.

No, if you can count on one hand the number of miles that your vehicle gets to the gallon, it’s not cool.

Neither do behemoths like the Hummer nor Cadillac Escalades look cool. From the majority’s perspective — at least I hope this is the majority’s perspective — they look gross, immature and frankly, stupid.

I look on idiotic vehicles like that with disgust and think of the hollow-headed soul at its wheel and just hope they don’t meander into my lane and run me over.

Trucks, at least, hold some value of pragmatism, but that practicality only comes into play when having to move furniture, or the new big screen from RC Willey.

There’s also some power trip that naturally comes along with owning a large vehicle. One can only feel powerful controlling a powerful vehicle. There’s no blame to issue in that matter.

The question is, do they abuse that power?

Some people may see their monstrosities as weapons — wielded to aggressively travel to work by holding up every car in the fast lane that’s not up to their driving standards.

Size doesn’t always reduce the practicality of a vehicle. Smart cars — though mass-produced for a good purpose — are not as their name implies, at least not in this country.

One sharing roads with F-350s and Hummers in a tin can like the Smart Car can be run off the road just by the draft as such vehicles pass.

And, of course, there’s always the moron who sits on his driveway and revs his engine for hours on end every day.

No, you’re not cool either. Everyone else who’s doing something productive like reading, studying or watching Glenn Beck is annoyed with you.

No, not everything is getting bigger. Cell phones, for one, aim to one day fit in the coin pocket of your jeans. Bluetooths are kind of cool.

It would be nice to have a hands-free phone so I could order a pizza while driving to get some fried chicken and smoking a cigarette with my free hand.

The only setback with a Bluetooth is anyone not engaged in your conversation — which is everyone besides you and the person on the other line — thinks you’re crazy.

Anyone who sees you walking around and talking to yourself is likely to question your sanity.

Smart phones, in a way, changed the race to get phones as small as possible. I guess devices that have that much technology still have to be a certain size.

They’re the new fad. I’ve got one. I feel pretty comfortable with it — like I fit in.

And just last week, Apple’s Steve Jobs revealed the iPad. It’s basically a giant iPhone without the phone and costs a few hundred dollars more.

“Isn’t this awesome?” Steve asked the audience as he showed off the poorly designed pad. No, Steve. It’s actually pretty lame.

What is it about this technology that has come to define our lifestyle of indulgence and excess?

The toys that we buy seem to bring us at least initial happiness, which I guess isn’t a bad thing, but our society has become so reliant on the comforts and luxuries that life without them seems drab and boring.

Without a fast car roaring us up to red lights or a glowing screen in front of our faces, we are simply at a loss for ideas of what to do with our day.

I’ve been spoiled by having a phone so I can talk to people and share the mundane details of my searching for products in the grocery story or waiting in line at Jack in the Box.

Life without a cell phone is unimaginable but only 10 or 15 years ago, life was that inconceivable blur.

Even further back was life without computers, TVs and radios. What would we do today without these spoils of technology? Luckily we’re distracted enough that we won’t have to answer that.