Has the world gone looney tunes with technology? There seems to be a gadget now for every instant of our lives. Cell phones are now permanently attached to our eyes, ears and mouths. We use them for everything from email to tracking the stock market to sending the universal text message, “What’s up?” Geeeeeezzzzz…
Everywhere I travel these days, whether it’s Dallas, TX or Bismark, North Dakota, the general population seems to have to be entertained 24/7. People stare at their phones constantly while eating dinner in a restaurant, waiting to board their plane, or waiting for their gas tank to fill. I see kids, (yes, I can call them kids now) constantly walking around with their earphones plugged in to both head and I-Pod. What happened to the days of kids looking out the window at cows grazing in a pasture while being driven to soccer practice? Now mom and dad have to plug in the DVR player to entertain Junior. You would think the little tyke would get sick of The Lion King after 100 viewings. A 30-minute drive and nothing to do but look out the window? The horror…
I think what bothers me the most is watching a baseball game and seeing someone sitting behind home plate yakking on their phone or staring at their smart phone screen while the game is being played. Come on! Do you really need to text Buffy and tell her to look for you on television? Why would you spend the money on choice seats like that (or greedily accept the tickets from someone else) and not watch the game? Give your seat to a real fan and you can go sit in the bleacher seats and do the same damn thing for a lot less money.
The new I-Pads are becoming standard fashion accessories for all walks of life. I see people carrying them around wherever they roam and treating them like a security blanket. I was waiting in line at a McDonalds the other day, feeding my junk food habit and the tattooed Generation X’er in front of me held his finger up in the “Please wait, I’m occupied by something I perceive as more important than you" gesture while perusing something on his I-Pad. It was all I could do to keep from throttling this punk. I’m getting too old too fast.
The worst seem to be adults on planes. Why do you insist on leaving your phone on during the flight? I think it’s a secret game for Johnny Generic Businessman to see if they can leave the phone on the whole flight and not get scolded by the flight attendant. “I’m pretty damn important and rules don’t apply to me” seems to be their mantra. It’s a game for me to count the seconds between when the planes wheels hit the ground and the first person to call someone and say, “I just landed”. Give me an effin’ break
I may seem to be getting much more impatient in my years, but I miss the old days. What happened to the days when you called in a couple of times a day for your messages? Don’t you miss the times when you pulled into a Stop N Go to call the office on a pay phone and after you wiped the sweat and God knows what else was off the earpiece and mouthpiece, Ricky Rodeo and his diesel pickup pulls in next to you and leaves the motor running while he goes inside to buy a lottery ticket, a cherry Slurpee and some snuff? How about the times when you needed to call an order in because your customers fax machine was on the fritz? You stood in the freezing rain trying to give the order over the phone and the rain smears the writing on the page. You end up sending your customer 10 cases of Blue 4” Vet Rap instead of 1 case because you can’t read the writing. Good times.
