Technology

So I just discovered this nifty new feature from Windows Live that enables me to draft my blog entries on my pc instead of having to log in to Blogger online to do so, and it is making me extremely happy! Humans are funny creatures in that sometimes the relative ease of use encourages us to do things more often and more consistently, but as I began to think this morning, I have been remiss in posting a new entry to what was intended to be a regularly updated blog, and from here on it may prove more so. But what with finding two jobs each, and juggling the hours in order to save some cash for the New Zealand foray upcoming, we have not taken a good amount of time to reflect on this forum in such a way as to transmit this information to you. Even now I must race off to mass at noon on a Monday as I was not able to make it there Saturday or Sunday since I worked all day both days. Now, however, we have one bicycle, which facilitates transportation from one place to the next, and I am much more motivated to go out and do things, because it does not cost any money and it is great exercise and a good way to get to the know that city.

Now I continue this post almost four days later, because I must admit that I have a love/hate relationship with technology. Technology can be used to improve our lives in so many different ways, including efficiency, and an ability to “be” in multiple places at the same time. I am the first one to admit that I have used Skype to be present for a meeting for a second job, meanwhile I was still supposed to be working at the first. Technology is an aid, is a tool. But just as your good ‘ol hardware store tools such as hammer and saw can be used for the wrong purposes, can be misused and abused, so can the new technological tools that we have at our disposal be misused and abused. It is simply that the nature of the misuse and abuse, and their affects that have changed dramatically. Now before the thought enters your mind as to the irony of these statements being written in a software program that facilitates posting to a blog on the internet, whose existence is in some ways only justified by the readers who have spent enough time on the internet by then to actually take the time to open the blog and read it. In other words the idea that I am propagating the very misuse and overuse that I am condemning, I will be the first to say that the use of technology, like anything else is good in moderation.

Think about the tools of antiquity. What was the reason for their creation? Why did we create the modern hammer rather than continue to use the traditional stone on stone method? I would venture to guess that it had something to do with efficiency, and the speed with which a task could be completed. Now these kinds of tools, when used correctly and appropriately, were used to build dwellings, that in turn eased the lives of the people who first created the tools. Tools are meant to facilitate our existence and the fulfillment of the true needs that each one of us has. Technology is no different. As long as it remains a means instead of an end in and of itself, I believe technology is good, and will continue to play a positive role in our society. However, when it begins to dominate our lives, then it becomes unhealthy because it is interfering with the very lives that it was intended to help. Perhaps there is no way out from the social-networking and blogging craze, but I think that if we consider this point, we can stop ourselves from simply desiring and then sitting and admiring the hammer, and instead use the tool for what it was intended. I remember receiving a hammer for Christmas a few years back, and holding the cold steel in my hand and practicing its swing only fascinated me for so long. Ultimately it came in using the tool for its intended purpose that true satisfaction came through.

Thus, let us make wise use of this new tool before us called technology. Let us use it for the purpose that it has been developed, rather than letting a tool control our lives. Let’s get together with the friends on whose Facebook walls we write, or use the “event” feature to set up a time to get together and talk about our lives. Use Meetup.com to gather a group of people interested in doing the same things as you. Blog about things that are important to you, and then send the entry to someone on whose life you think it will have a positive and needed impact. And last of all, use email wisely and sparingly. I have been the first one to break this rule, but have learned that the more sincerity and honesty you pour into your words the better.

I have no illusions that technology is going to go away any time soon, I merely question how we go about using it. This is the question that I wanted to share with you. And thus if ever you wonder why I have not updated Facebook, or blogged recently, or replied to your email, it is for this very reason; I needed a break from technology. Just as the carpenter at times needs a break from his hammer, and so sets it down and has some lunch, or devotes himself to another task that seeks the same end as the hammer. Most things in moderation, and life will become both more simple, and more rewarding. Let us use well the tools that we have been given, for they are gifts to improve our lives, and were never meant to become our lives.