How dependent are you on technology?

[imjustagirl]

I was thinking about this last night as I was going out with some friends. To get to the restaurant and bar, I googled each of them, got their address, plugged them into my phone navigation, and headed out. Without my phone, I'd have been screwed because I've never been that good at reading maps, and taking my eyes off the road to look at Mapquest directions would suck.

All of my phone contacts are in my phone. If I were somewhere without my phone and needed to call my mom or my best friend...I couldn't. I no longer know people's cell phone numbers.

I no longer know what channel, day or time television shows are on. I just come home, fire up the Tivo 1-2 times a week, and there they are.

I'm not sure I've possessed a phone book in the past six years. I get all my phone numbers off the internet.

Surely I can't be alone. How dependent are YOU on technology?

 

[Ben_Hecht]

98%

 

[zeke12]

I refuse to vote in internet polls, because I'm afraid THEY are watching me.

 

[imjustagirl]

They're not. But I am.

MUAHAHAHAHAHAH!

(I heart technology)

 

[BYH]

I used to figure as long as I didn't have a cell phone, I was fine.

Then I figured as long as I didn't text, I was fine.

Then I figured as long as I still read the hard copy of the newspaper, I was fine.

Then I figured as long as I didn't Facebook, I was fine.

Now I figure as long as I don't Twitter, I'm fine.

That should last 'til Tuesday PLAY VOICES CARRY!!!!

 

[zeke12]

Add me on Twitter, rube.

 

[Flash]

Come over to the dark side, BYH. Start Tweeting, dammit.

 

[Diabeetus]

I download episodes of my favorite shows cause I'm too cheap to pay for Tivo Another of my new favorite things is getting certain people's Facebook updates as texts on my phone.

I'm completely dependent on it, really.

 

[Songbird]

Dependent away from work?

Maybe 1%

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

At first, I wasn't sure if this question was actually meant for the Single Ladies of SportsJournalists.com . . . .

;D ;D

Anyway . . . .

Somewhat, mostly for communication. But I'm limited to Internet and a cell phone. I use Mapquest printouts all the time.

 

[Charlie Brown]

Come over to the dark side, BYH. Start Tweeting, dammit.

Isn't that just text messaging, but on a network? What happens when that becomes obsolete? Jump to the next network? I admit to knowing little about it.

 

[zeke12]

I should say, I could get by just fine without any of it, I think. I did at one time, anyway. It's a quality of life thing, though.

Except for phone numbers. Cell phones have atrophied the part of my brain that I use to remember phone numbers.

We were sitting around drinking beer back home over Thanksgiving, and I could still rattle off all my buddies' home phone numbers from high school.

I don't know anyone's cell phone number. I click on their name.

 

[Big Circus]

At first, I wasn't sure if this question was actually meant for the Single Ladies of SportsJournalists.com . . . .

;D ;D

Anyway . . . .

Somewhat, mostly for communication. But I'm limited to Internet and a cell phone. I use Mapquest printouts all the time.

 

[Flash]

Come over to the dark side, BYH. Start Tweeting, dammit.

Isn't that just text messaging, but on a network? What happens when that becomes obsolete? Jump to the next network? I admit to knowing little about it.

I've been using it as a tool for sharing information.

 

[friend of a friend]

I just discovered these things called books.

 

[Songbird]

Book?

 

[Diabeetus]

I just discovered these things called books.

Like Facebook?

 

[luckyducky]

96.5

I don't have Tivo, and once I find my way somewhere once, I don't need a map or GPS to get me there again (built-in GPS is such a nice feature, except when the boys get mad because you're always right and they're not/lost), but my cell phone (now that I have a web/e-mail-capable one) is my lifeline. If I'm not attached to my phone, it's probably because I'm at the gym (with my iPod) or watching TV while working on my laptop. The only times I use a pen and paper these days are when I'm taking running/stats/etc. of a game I'm covering. Haven't figured out a way I like to do that on my computer yet, so I don't.

But every so often, I appreciate the break from the wires. I've started reading books and getting things done when I fly, and I do have a couple friends I talk to on the phone more than IM.

But once I hit 24 hours sans e-mail and IM (and internet in general), I start to lose it a little ...

 

[JR]

I remember working before voice-mail, faxes, the internet, computers were even concepts.

You corresponded by snail mail on an IBM Selectric typewriter

If you wrote a business letter on a Monday, you'd hope to receive an answer no later than the following Monday.

Your secretary kept carbon copies of all your correspondence on file.

If you phoned someone at their office and they weren't there, their girl would take down the message on those pink message slips.

That's less than 30 years ago.

Now of course, if someone sends you an e-mail, they want a reply within the hour.

All these things are just tools to supposedly make one's life simpler and more manageable. Hasn't exactly worked out according to plan

That said, I can't imagine life without computers, the internet or cell phones.

GPS is a nice bonus but HC is the best damn road map reader around. It's still a great toy.

I' guess I'm old fashioned because I don't have an iPod, I still listen to CD's and watch movies on DVD. I do, however, have satellite radio which I love.
But books have survived all the new technology we can throw up against them.

 

[Songbird]

I love reading maps.