Meet my new phone, Palm Pixi. I must admit, I have fallen in love with it over the past three weeks or so. I have the power of the internet at my fingertips (because I don’t spend enough time on Facebook), and a terrific calendar that is helping me keep a hectic life a bit more sorted. With iPhones and new, fancy smart phones on almost everyone’s hip, I was starting to feel a little left out with my old flip phone.
Not that flip phones are totally antiquated and I turn my nose up at them. My flip phone was faithful. When Drew and I went to pick out my new phone years ago (my engagement gift… along with the ring), I looked at all the models and played with some of the fancier ones. Drew tried to push me toward a “smart phone.” It was enticing, but the cheap, “missionary” mindset that is ever present in me prevailed. I headed toward the flip phone at the end of the row of model phones, the one that was free with mail in rebate. As often happens in my brain, I thought, “There are people starving all over the world and I want a fancy phone?” I settled with the cheap phone. I decided it was sufficient for me, at that stage in my life. And it was a good, faithful phone.
I still have a torn relationship with technology. It’s a great thing, but I often wonder how much we need. It’s so expensive, and it sucks us in, leaving us constantly wanting more. A bigger TV, more pixels, more ram… we want it. After being overseas and seeing nations that have so little, I often feel disgusted at our nation’s materialistic mindset.
I sometimes think I was born into the wrong generation. I watch Lord of the Rings, and dream of wearing long, flowing dresses and knowing how to ride horses with ease. I see movies from the 30s and 40s, and see pictures from my resident’s glory days, and think how I would have loved living then. People seemed so classy, relationships seemed so sincere, and singers really knew how to sing. No auto-tuning back then. Instead, I live in the generation of texting and technology that I can barely keep up with.
I am trying to have a better attitude toward technology. Rather than living in denial of the ever changing world around me, I am trying to embrace it. Just because I have a fancy looking phone doesn’t mean that I hate starving children in Africa. It simply means I am embracing the ways that technology can benefit my life.
Sometimes, technology can simply be fun. When Drew and I save up enough money, we would like to buy a Wii. We have bowled, sword fought, and Mario Karted enough to know that we’d have great fun with one. I love the fact that Wii encourages you to be physical, rather than simply sit on the couch. And it’s great for embarrassing videos…
I know it won’t be long before Drew reveals the embarrassing videos of me.