As a younger member of Gen X, I can say that I’m completely on board with most of the advances of technology. I often talk about the benefits of the ebook revolution, but there have been others that I think are advantageous to us as a society. Below, I talk about three other shifts that I’m glad to see, and one that I’m not completely on board with yet:
Amazon. Online retailers are the biggest blessing to our busy lifestyle. Life is so much easier life when I can click a button to get things I want/need delivered to my door, especially around the holidays for that Christmas shopping! I understand that it does have an impact on local business and I’m sorry for that, but time is a precious commodity to those of us in young and middle adulthood, and anything that gives it back to us is a treasure. In the grand scheme of things, I’d rather enjoy time at home with my family than spend it standing in line, or stuck in traffic.
Cutting the TV wire. Television has changed. I discovered this when we bought a SmartTV a year and a half ago with birthday money. Our world changed with our introduction to Roku. Suddenly, we didn’t need cable or satellite, because a subscription to SlingTV and Netflix gave us access to everything we wanted to watch. Add a digital antenna, and our TV bill dropped by 90% and gave us more options than the TV providers. We cut the wire and never looked back.
Cancelling the Landline. We all have cell phones with us everywhere we go now, so a landline is an unnecessary duplication of service. If you have a smartphone and a decent service provider, then you really don’t need the landline. The thing is, most providers know this, and try to entice you with offers to bundle services. Don’t fall for it. Paying for anything you don’t use is always a waste, and it adds up over time. Enjoy the convenience of your cell phone, and let the landline go. It’s one less thing to worry about.
Change is good, but there is one thing that I can’t make the transition with, at least not just yet:
Dumping the computer. It’s not a big thing yet, but more people forsake the home computer/laptop, and do all of their online activity on phones and tablet. As a writer, I can’t imagine life without my laptop. While the phone and tablet are good for a lot of things, I still use my computer for too many other things that can’t be done conveniently on a mobile device; mostly writing. I imagine that I’ll have to cave in and get a combination device someday, but as long as my Dell lives, it will be my sidekick.
Change is good, but I tend to look at things for overall benefits before I totally take them in. I think that’s common for people my age, and it’s not a bad thing. In fact, I think it would benefit us all to consider if, how, and where the constant changes in technology fit into our lives. There’s a lot of it out there, but not everything is for everybody.
That’s all today. Have a happy Friday and a wonderful weekend.
Bye!