Altar Call – Opelika-Auburn
News
November 2, 2008
Electronic gadgets should not be allowed to
control our lives
Everywhere I go I run into people whose lives are dominated
by cell phones or iPods. Despite the increasing popularity of electronic
gadgets, I contend these mechanical devils should not be allowed to control our
lives.
Walk down the hall and Joseph will wave but not speak. He
is in another world even while working, the world of his music. What song is he
listening to? Only God knows. Maybe not even God. After all, Joseph has a
thousand songs stored in his beloved iPod.
Would I want a thousand of my favorite songs in my pocket?
A thousand? Not hardly. So I don’t like music? No, I love music. But 99 songs
would be quite enough for me. Maybe even 49. Or 19. My Lord, who would want the
confusion of trying to remember if I played Number 743 yesterday?
Anyway, I would much rather just sit down and let Dean play
some of her favorite songs on the piano. That way we both know the name of the
song (that is, if I can somehow remember it as she plays).
Gadgets are the toys of grown men – and women—but especially
men. My friend Ed loves his GPS/iPhone. The friendly little thing tells Ed
where he is going. Shucks, even at 76 I still know where I am going in my car.
I would be embarrassed to have to ask a cute little gadget to tell me where I
am headed. I have never liked asking for directions anyway.
Ed’s little buddy has so many features that it frightens
me. It is a miniature computer, cell phone, direction finder, television,
dictionary, and directory. One of those buttons may even be a meat grinder. I
am scared of a gadget that has more buttons on it than a telephone.
But Ed likes it and that is all that matters. If I ever
decide to buy one for my wife, I will get Ed’s advice. It is so confusing to
know what to buy. Do I need one like Ed’s or the Nissan Around View Monitor or
the 80 GB Zune or the N918Gb? Makes my head hurt to think about it. I think I
will just settle for a road map and a pay phone.
I
well remember the first time someone asked me for my fax number. I had no idea
what he was talking about. The embarrassment spurred me to learn about fax
machines. Not wanting to be left behind, I bought one. A few months later I
gave it away. It caused a loud, screeching sound on my telephone. Who needs
that? My phone works a lot better now without that fax machine.
When televisions came on the market, back in the fifties, I
had barely finished college. One day I surprised my wife by bringing home an
RCA television. That was before Sony discovered
The cost of that TV was more than four hundred dollars. We
bought it on time. By the time we paid it off, six years later, that one-eyed
monster had cost me eleven hundred dollars.
Those were the days when 33 and 1/3 records were popular.
We bought 75 pounds of those records, some with songs recorded by a new singer
named Johnny Cash, and others with better music by artists like Mantivani and
his orchestra.
Naturally we had to buy a record player. So bought a
combination radio and record player, AM and FM. I figured it would become a
collector’s item. Instead, a few years later I paid a fellow to haul it off for
me. The old records are still in a closet. We are too sentimental; we just
cannot throw them away.
When John Herbert Orr came out with a tape player called an
“8 Track,” guess who bought one? Yes, before it became obsolete I had one in my
car. It made me feel like somebody, kind of like Ed feels when he whips out his
GPS Combo.
Orr’s bulky tape player soon gave way to the cassette
player so I upgraded and installed one of them. Now that cassettes have become
obsolete, I enjoy my car’s CD player
In our home we now have a wheelbarrow load of electronic beauties.
We have a receiver, a tuner, an amplifier, a tape player, a VCR, a DVD player,
and even a set of headphones (for the hard of hearing – me).
Have I given in to the urge to own a cell phone? You bet. I
have one. My wife has one. Neither of us knows much more than how to say
“hello,” but we are content to let our grandchildren explain how cell phones
work.
Young folks are not as intimidated by electronic gadgets as
most people my age. Nevertheless, I am not about to give up and waddle my way
into eternity.
I spent thirty minutes one day inviting a nine-year-old boy
to explain his “Game Boy” to me. He was sharp. He loved it. He used it to avoid
conversation with adults. I decided I did not need one. It hurt my ego to
realize the kid would rather play with the Incredible Hulk than to talk to me.
I may be slow but I am determined to stay abreast of the
latest technology. I like my cell phone. I enjoy keeping up with friends by
email. But I refuse to allow these gadgets to control my life and turn me into
a person nobody wants to be around. We need to control our gadgets rather than
allow them to control us.
When a cell phone prevents you from having a normal
conversation with a friend, it is time to turn the gadget off. If it is off, it
will not ring. If I constantly answer a cell phone when I am talking to a
friend, I am actually insulting my friend. I am letting him know that I am so
important that I have to be available to other people rather than give him my
full attention.
One day this week I had a wonderful day. I got a lot done.
I enjoyed chatting with several people. On the way home it dawned on me why it
had been such a nice day; I had left my cell phone at home.
Believe it or not, I have found that I can live a fairly
normal life, without guilt or inner turmoil, when my cell phone is turned off.
Silence can be beautiful at times.
One of the nicest things about modern technology is the
caller ID. It gives me the privilege of deciding that right now I do not need
to talk to the person calling. Maybe later. Maybe never. But I can choose.
Today’s gadgetry is simply amazing. Who can understand it
all? But whether young or old, it is a great time to be
alive. And the people who are most alive are those who refuse to allow gadgets
to control their lives. + + +