Technology is a great thing.  Over the past 50 years it has improved the lives of people throughout the world.  And I don’t just mean the technology of today but of past generations.  Simple things we now take for granted like a vacuum, dishwasher, washing machine and dryer and microwave, to name just a few.  Each of these helped to improve and simplify people’s lives.  They allowed 16 hour days to become 12 hour days, therefore improving the quality of people’s lives.

Today, we think of technology only as computers, smart phones or game consoles.  But technology has been evolving over time and it continues to do so.  The rumba vacuum allows you to vacuum without having to physically push a vacuum. Technology is revolutionizing the healthcare field, helping to save lives.  And for all of this, we should be grateful.

However, there comes a time when technology runs amok and simply becomes a way that companies can push products on people without really adding a benefit to their lives despite what the manufacturers may say.  Take for example the concept that the smart phone is no longer enough, we must also have a smart watch so that just in case someone calls us on our smart phone and it’s in our pockets, we don’t miss the call.  It will also give us another opportunity to be connected, whether to our friends or the web.  While the smart phone is continually improving, at some point, no matter what the technology companies do, it will become commonplace.  Afterall, it’s merely a better phone, a communication device.

Staying with the Smart Phone, a better camera, more memory and longer battery life will eventually not be enough of a selling point to keep it current.  We are even seeing a reversal of book downloads on Kindle and other devices.  People are still buying print books.  The recent deaths of Robin Williams and Joan Rivers clearly demonstrated that despite the fact that anyone who wanted information could read it on line, print magazine sales soared.  You can’t keepsake things saved in virtual memory.  You don’t own your music if you can’t physically hold that which makes listening possible.  You purchase the right to listen to music but that’s not the same, by a long shot, as owning the CD or DVD.  Proof of that is that you can only download music to a limited number of devices.

While technology can be fun, exciting and cool, it will never replace that which is real.  Despite the fact that video gamers have created a sports league, killing aliens on a screen is not the same as scoring a touchdown, hitting a home run, scoring a goal, or shooting a winning basket in actual sporting events.  Virtual skiing will Never replace the freedom and sensation of a mountain and the feel of the cold and snow on your face as you navigate the moguls.  A virtual sunset will never replace the real thing.  Pornography will never replace love-making.  And walking up to someone who is attractive and asking for a date or a phone number will never be replaced by on-line dating.  People dated and married long before the web existed and it was a better way.  I feel sorry for anyone, particularly our children, who may never experience the excitement of “Real Life”.  It’s so much more fun and exciting than living in a fantasy or a virtual reality.  Hopefully people will come to their senses and recognize that technology is only a tool, something to enhance their lives.  Not something to replace the excitement of REAL LIFE!!