Google Auntie and Other Apps...
So I pretty much can’t get anywhere in this world without Google Auntie. There’s a place near my work where my GPS fails for some ungodly reason, I had to go to a place that I don’t usually go to and my phone wasn’t making any sense. I was on the phone with a friend and she was like, why don’t you pull over and look at a map? A map? I haven’t looked at a map since the invention of Google Maps.
There are other things I can no longer do without computer assistance. I definitely don’t know my multiplication tables and cannot compute shit without my calculator on my phone. I have a Master’s Degree in writing but still cannot spell without spell check. I also use a program called Grammarly that has saved my life with grammar.
I don’t know what I would do without these things now that I have them. I don’t own any music anymore, I don’t know where my CD player is and I don’t even buy music online. I have a subscription to Spotify and I can listen to any song in the universe, even Indian music, and Kirtan.
I have a smart TV in my bedroom and others throughout the house. I rarely watch regular TV, I can choose from an array of online channels such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. I get to decide what I want to watch and when I want to watch it. When I was a kid, I would wait for a particular day and time to watch a particular show.
I watch less TV now because I waste more time on the Internet, usually on social media. I do, however, read the New York Times online and don’t have to deal with throwing out loads of paper like I used to when I got the paper subscription.
I buy a lot of things online like toilet paper and paper towel so I don’t have to go to the store that much. In fact, there is usually a package that comes every couple of days to the house. I get my groceries delivered by an app called Shipt. My Apple Watch counts my steps so I know exactly how much I've moved in a day.
My whole life is dependent upon technology. I write this blog on Google Docs then paste it on to my blog website. I am able to reach almost 1000 people a day just from sitting at my home. Every time I go anywhere special, I don’t have to remember to bring a camera because there is one on my phone and I can send my pictures to my friends and family.
I’m using less of my brain for menial tasks and not having to run around for very small things. But is my life better for it? In many ways, yes. It opens up my time to focus on more things that are important to me or that I enjoy doing. However, going to the store to get toilet paper was an activity that in some senses gave me a reason to walk around and talk to people I don’t know.
As a society, we lack community, sometimes just going to the drugstore provides interaction with people. It’s possible that my brain may deteriorate faster if I’m not computing numbers sometimes or remembering how to spell words. Maybe those things are just good to do to exercise the brain. (Just as a note I to this day cannot spell exercise.) And I can’t remember if you put the parathesis before or after the period. I realize these are small things, but maybe they add up.
The only thing wrong with the music stuff is that artists are not getting paid as much for their work when we don’t buy their CD’s. But on the other hand, famous singers make too much money as it is, so I hardly feel for them. The only problem I can see with the TV thing is that I can watch a whole series in one day if I want to now, I used to wait for the next episode and it would build up this anticipation which was kind of fun.
Honestly, I’ve never been truly able to read a map and I could care less about knowing where I’m going. I just want to get there.
But the thing is, now that things are so convenient, what am I doing with all that time I’m saving? I don’t even have to watch commercials on TV, that probably adds many more years to my life. If I’m saving so much time and energy, you’d think I was getting more done towards my goals in life.
I don’t know how, but I still manage to waste a great deal of time in my life. I’m not even sure sometimes how the hours pass, much less the days and years. Sometimes I think we have to do menial tasks in order to fill in the time, pass the time. This new technological life leaves a bit of an empty space.
What will we do with all this time?
nina