At that time, I thought my irritation couldn’t get any more intense. I was wrong. Earlier this year I purchased a smart phone. I didn’t want to, but I did. Getting rid of that old flip phone was like saying goodbye to an old friend. I was uncomfortable with the concept of this “smart” phone, as I was, and still am, convinced that the damn thing is a hell of a lot smarter than I am. Nevertheless, no matter how inept I may feel when trying to manipulate what I consider to be the proof positive that I have some kind of anti-technology curse on my head, I am slowly, very slowly, getting the hang of it.
Although being a late adopter has its disadvantages, it also has its perks. When I need help understanding an application on my phone/camera/video game/mini movie screen/and probably another hundred features that I don’t even know about yet, all I have to do is look around for the youngest person within sight. Chances are, he or she will tutor me at break-record speed.
The first week I had the phone, Steve and I went to dinner with his daughter Tracy and our 10-year-old grandson Carson. Poor Carson was so tired after a day of being a kid that he could hardly keep his eyes open. However, he sure jumped to my immediate assistance when he saw that I was having a hard time reading the menu. With just a touch of his index finger, he was able to show me that my phone was also a flashlight! and I thought Swiss Army knives were handy.
Back in the day, grandparents were happy to share their knowledge with their children’s children. Their sage advice imparted wisdom not to be surpassed by mortal men and women as their progeny’s offspring held them in extremely high regard. In this current world of exponentially growing technology, it looks as though the grandkids are now the teachers.
Being fond of famous quotes, I searched around hoping to find what I thought might convey my current feelings regarding human interaction and understanding. I believe I have found just the right words:
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” —George Bernard Shaw.
With e-mailing, Facebooking, texting and even faxing taking over the lion’s share of how we communicate with one another, how do we know that those messages were ever received, and that those that did reach the proper recipients were indeed interpreted with the proper emotion that was intended by the senders? With no eye contact, smiles or voice intonations to lean on to do our emotional talking for us, it is no wonder that emojis (smiley faces, etc.) and chat abbreviations like LOL (laughing out loud) are used as often as language shortcuts.
So, with that in mind, I will say TTFN: Ta-ta for now. 🙂
