Though I love the technology we have today, two things have become quite evident about how it’s being regarded in society. First, I think it’s taken for granted. It is assumed that everyone has to use it in order to conduct all of life’s activities. If you want to apply for a job, you have to go on line. If you want information about how to get in touch with a business, you have to get it on line. To order tickets, you must go on line. I’m surprised we don’t have to go on line in order to use the restroom. This morning, I called my local university to apply for a job. The employment specialist suggested that I go on line to find the job listings, and that the university is no longer offering paper applications. I pointed out that there is a big part of our population who isn’t as knowledgeable in computers, and that society is taking computers for granted. People without the computer knowledge should still have the traditional conveniences. Without saying so, it appeared that the employment specialist agreed with me, and used that as one of the reasons for her early retirement in a few months. I asked how the university would accommodate people who wanted to be bus boys or janitors, jobs which have nothing to do with computer technology and internet access. Do we have to go on line to apply for those jobs as well?
I have another observation about technology. Due to the rapid changes, people are forced to spend more money keeping up with these changes. If you buy a computer, you can’t keep it very long before it becomes outdated. Either the programs aren’t supported any more, or a new brand of computer quickly hits the market, forcing you to spend additional money. Smart phones are upgraded at a rapid pace, forcing the public to spend money on a regular basis. Wouldn’t these rapid changes drain our budgets? Imagine if you owned a car, and all of a sudden you found out that gas stations are no longer pumping a particular gasoline designed for your car, and that you have to buy a brand new car which accepts the new brand of gasoline that is now being pumped at these gas stations. That’s the same type of philosophy that I use in my argument about the fast changes in technology and the money we have to spend in order to keep up.
