Where were the "Tech Toys" when I needed them?

My kids tease me and call me a geek or a geek wannabe – at least I think they’re teasing.  But I may be and I’m proud of it.  I am most definitely not a luddite, who is defined as “one who opposes or avoids the use of new technology.”  Oh no!  What in the world are luddites thinking?  And missing!  I am not as savvy as I would like to be, but my thirst for more tech knowledge is there and the journey toward more skill is very exciting. 

Now, that being said, I also admit that some days my bytes are full.  The glut of knowledge available to those of us on the tech information pipeline is awesome, exciting and, at the same time, staggering and overwhelming.  (My published essay, “My Bytes Are Full,” on my website at http://www.terriclamons.com will make you laugh at me and at yourself.)  As I admit in the essay I am definitely on the technology highway, but I am driving an older model that threatens to crash if not turned off, cooled down, and rebooted occasionally.  

With three books published (also described on my website) and working on a new adult mystery and two children’s stories, I love the technology available to me in researching, writing, and publishing.  But it’s the “everyday” stuff of my life that reaps huge rewards from our advanced technology – advanced from my perspective, as I already said, since I’m moving through life as a “vintage model.” 

 

In my essay I point out that six tech developments have become commonplace and taken for granted since our children were small.  I consider them ideas of sheer genius, and suspect some were developed by a housebound geek wannabe living in a cold climate with small children.  Let me test these items out on you for a moment.  Then you can comment and let me know what you think. 

Let’s hear a cheer for the Cell Phone!  Where were you when my children were small, my husband was traveling, and I was the chairman of the school carnival and Vacation Bible School the same year?  Really!  Luddite friends declare my cell phone dependence puts me at risk of an intervention?  If so, bring it on.  I’m the one in line right behind everyone in my family and most of my friends.   And, I just have to ask, “What are you folks thinking who don’t have cell phones or don’t use the ones you have to make your life safer, more efficient, and connected? “  I’ve even abandoned my paper grocery list and use my phone’s notepad to keep track of our needs.  And texting is second nature to me to stay in touch with my family – and it now includes my two oldest grandchildren.  No, I don’t have a “smart phone.”  Not yet!  Just think of the possibilities there.  Hmm.  I’d better move on and avoid some friendly luddite revolts.

Email is next on my list.  Today it supports communication for every activity I am involved in as a leader or follower.  Email would  have kept my generation in better touch after we tossed our caps into the air at graduation.  Once it was available, I made up a lot of lost time and what email started, social networks continue.  Kudos to FaceBook, Twitter, Linkedin and GoodReads in my life.  What took you so long?  Mark Zuckerberg, you and your Harvard classmates were two generations too late, but I’m glad you finally got here.  

The cordless phone was welcomed into the lives of all free-spirited geek wannabes like I am and is now rapidly becoming obsolete with the disappearance of land lines.  With a cordless phone I could have diapered a fussy baby while getting updates from my husband trapped at a crowded airport in some far off city or dusted the whole house while catching up with a friend on the opposite side of the continent.  While we are applauding the cordless phone I must add voice mail, which would have been so helpful when phones tethered to the wall with cords were not answered because of busy lives and my loving arms rocking babies. 

  

Would you believe that a garage door opener is next on my list?  How much easier my life would have been when I was the age my children are today.  I don’t expect my Texas friends or Southern California family to understand this.  Until you’ve lived most of your adult “car driving” life in the north (seven years of it in Michigan or northwest Ohio) you can’t imagine what it’s like to climb in and out of the car into a foot of snow to open and shut your garage door.   It’s just one of life’s simple pleasures, much like the drive through pharmacy.  Is there a reason why drug stores put the pharmacy in back where you have to trek through with sick children to get their prescribed medicines?  Is the architect Cruella deVil?  Even today I might choose to drive through for a prescription refill instead of spackling and blushing my vintage face to do the required walk to the back in a little more style. 

Before I invite your comments, I will add one more idea I thought was ingenious, but it never seemed to get off the ground.  That is grocery.com.  Again, cost-wise this is not a service I would have subscribed to regularly.  But it would have been welcome during annual visits of bronchitis or strep with two feet of snow on the ground, temps below zero with 50-mile-an-hour winds “whipping across the plains,” and Dad out of town – again.  Do I need to say anything more about this great idea?

Get on board, all you luddites out there.  Most common tech tools are not toys.  They make our lives better -- more efficient, safer, and, most of all, FUN!   Now, please tell me what you think!

Terri Clamons, author
Corporate Prince, ebook at synergEbooks, amazon, and The Kindle Store

The Toy Room, ebook and paperback at wingsepress and amazon, ebook at The Kindle Store

Visit my website at http://www.terriclamons.com