A Love/Hate Relationship with Technology

As mentioned in my first blog I’m an older millennial and as much as I love new gadgets sometimes it can get a bit overwhelming.  Yes, the technology we have now is great. Just this past weekend I was able to watch my nieces dance recital that took place in California via YouTube Live and a few hours later I was able to watch a good friend of mine get married using Zoom.  Which was fantastic because I got celebrate the people I care about, that are thousands of kilometers and a few times zones away, in real time.

However, with technology being so instant it can be overwhelming because it feels like always have to be “on” in a way. I have been going to concerts before digital cameras became easily available and have noticed that the vibes have changed with having a nice camera so easily available at their fingertips thanks to the latest smartphones.  Everyone now has their phones out posting on SnapChat and/or Instagram showing what a great time they’re having, but are they really?  When looking through a small screen the whole time instead of just enjoying the moment I think can take away from the experience. Even though I do try to enjoy myself at these events without relying on my phone, I was reminded of how much I do rely on it to capture the moment when I went to the Dave Chappell show.  He has a policy there are no phones allowed out during the shows to the point that phones and smart watches are locked up in these special cases so no recordings can be done.  During the show a few times I had the reaction of “oh I need to record this so I can replay it later” and then I realized I can’t since my phone is locked up. Having that happen makes a person realize that it is nice to be in the moment without always being on a phone.

The other love/hate relationship with technology is because I have a nice camera on my phone, I have so many photos on it that I forget half of them.  It’s great for when I need to take photos of my dogs for their Instagram page and I have some content saved for later use.  That being said, there are other photos from trips I’ve taken, that I told myself I’ll print out and have yet to do it.  Sometimes I do miss having a camera that requires 35mm film and taking the time to select what is deemed a fantastic photo in order to use film on it.  Then the excitement of having printed to see if it came out as fantastic as I think it does in my mind’s eye. Most of the time yes, my photos did come out the way I hoped they would and a few times not so much. We’ve all had those instances where the photo came out a little blurry, but with the printed photo sometimes it added to the photo and gave it a great story.  Other times it was a learning experience on what not do in the future.  Now with the smartphones having good cameras it’s not quite the same learning experience.

All that being said I am still grateful for the technology we currently have because one of the biggest things we are able to continue our education.  Where if we didn’t have this technology, we may have had to extend our time at university because of it being closed until it’s safe to have in-person classes again.