Day Seven: I'm Still Alive

I was initially trying to make all of the titles of my entries based on song titles but that kind of failed. Today it actually IS a song title but that's just because it randomly worked.

I keep seeing these commercials for iPhones and blackberries and droids and all those other all-in-one kind of devices (previously referred to by me as "the mark of the beast") where the character in the commercial brags about how they can do everything with their phone. The one that stands out the most is the one where the person says something to the effect of "I need my phone for EVERYTHING" or else "I don't do ANYTHING without my phone." Really? Is that what it's come down to? Is that really something to be bragging about? And, of course the deeper question, what does that say about our culture?

I'm one to constantly criticize our -- western civilization's -- need for quick fixes and easy solutions and things to appeal to our laziness and desire to not do things on our own. Why do things like the swiffer sweeper, the GPS, and toys that teach your kids to read for you exist? Because we're too lazy to want to mop, read a map, and teach our own kids how to read. Smart phones are the epitome not only of our laziness but our absolute dependence on technology.

When you have a phone that encompasses your whole life and something happens to it, what do you do? You freak out because your entire life revolved around the phone. You probably don't have a landline. You may or may not have a computer. You probably don't have maps or a phone book or an address book that isn't in your phone, so if your phone gets broken, your life is severely changed and you suddenly don't know what to do with yourself. Is that really something to be bragging about?

I don't like to be condescending, I generally have a "live and let live" mindset but there are certain times that I think of myself as better than other people. And if you're someone who, like the person in the commercial, can't do anything without their phone, then yes, i think i'm better than you. Isn't technology supposed to improve and enrich our lives? If this is it i'm not sure it's much of an improvement...

In other news, I fixed Stimee's car all by myself. Yay!