Tech love

Like I said in my last post, I welcome technology and enjoy it. What has it done to my life for me to feel this way?


I hyperventillate with tech updates as much as I do with style updates, and it's a good thing those two fields are merging: fashion shows during an I.T. launch, updates sent in via the latest gadgets and the internet, etc., etc., etc. Both are rapidly changing the way the other works, but I.T. stuff changes the way of almost every landscape it can.


Technology is an important aid in both areas of my work: writing and PR. My brief experience handling the PR of our country's Microsoft group helped me understand even the back end of technology that spurs the glam front it has.


Here are more detailed reasons I love technology (this is a random list):

1. Finally being able to keep up and in touch with friends, family, and my BFF via correspondence. I was such a bad letter writer. Scratch that -- I wrote letters but never sent them. I was a bad letter-sender, and since the advent of email and everything that came with it (instant messaging, facebook, twitter...), I've been sending away with a click of a keypad button, the enter/return button, or the mouse. 
2. More free time, thanks to online browsing, shopping, reservations, and booking. I don't have to go out to shop nor do I take so long to look for something I need. I check online first. (finding something perfect, or several perfect choices and having to pick a single final one from them has always been difficult for me.) I've been purchasing online *sneaky giggle*.  I even booked my passport application and airline tickets online. 
3. Knowing what my kids are up to without appearing to be nosing around. You see, they "friend-ed" me, not the other way around. On FB, twitter, multiply, YM. I drew the line at tumbler. I'm too O-C to maintain so many personas for self-expression. I'm rarely on stealth, but they sometimes forget their mother is their social network contact, and live the social network life freely. Bwah. Hah. Hah.
4. Having so much reading material! Click a link, visit a page, follow an expert. I now sometimes neglect my book of the moment.
5. I write faster. I was never a good typist. I used to be able to write freely by hand, but you could clearly see how my mind works with the scratches, the arrows, the brackets, and the hilighters. My mind would always go way ahead of my hand with a pen. Computer keyboards are much easier to type on, and, alas, cut-and-paste and spell check have spoiled me.
6. More entertainment options. I can watch movies (stored in such a compact format), listen to endless playlists without a huge player plugged in an electrical socket, and can play games alone.When no one wants to play backgammon with me, I play a digital version, even if I have to play with an annoying computer creature who jeers and is sore at losing.
7. It made the world a smaller place! Imagine the spike in my awareness level! I have contacts from wherever and know what's happening even on the other side of the globe. It has been easier to equip myself with updated skills and info to be globally competitive. For me, at least, it has helped in developing a sort of community with the rest of human kind. 
8. Organizing and editing have gotten much, much easier -- directories, lists, files, digital, photos, even virtual bookshelves and shoe closets.
9. Working from home. Or from anywhere. And with anyone all over the globe! I didn't realize how much going to an office and staying there for hours every single work day was stressing me out until the day I first put in 8 hours of work from home. Then I need to break the monotony of home, no matter how much I've enjoyed it, so I've extended my work place to include anywhere I can write, lug my laptop/notebook to, and correspond from. Virtual office. Love that.
10. Never-ending evolution of gadgets. I have always loved gadgets. As a little girl, I would always pretend to be a "cashier", a switchboard operator, or a writer, even if I had to play secretary to be the one at the typewriter. My cousin and I loved playing "moonbase" girls in our pretend version of "Space 1999" because we would have enormous panels of controls to tinker with.

At the end of the day (please pardon the over-used term), technology is there to make life easier, and I recognize that enough to not depend on it... too much. I made a top 10 list vs. the top 5 list I wrote on "reasons to love old school", not because I favor technology, but because I could think of 5 more detailed reasons now than I could when I wrote the about the other one. On a bad day, or in case a power outage happens, one should still be able to write with a pen and paper, visit with friends, play board games, prepare all the delicious food without needing anything electronic. But, yes, I lurve technology.