How Technology has Changed My Life

I was sitting here reminiscing on how much technology has impacted my life.  I realize it has profoundly affected the way I do things every single day.  When I am driving I no longer pull over to the side of the road and take a look at my road map. I just turn on my GPS and it tells me where to go. I don't even pay as much attention to where I am going because I know my GPS will show me the way.

At work/school I always have my Blackberry with me. If I am talking to a coworker/classmate or if I am sitting in a class/meeting and I need an answer I send out an email and get a reply sometimes almost instantly. In fact, I have worked in some places where they preferred to communicate by email. The phone or face-to-face interaction was for really serious, important matters. With my Blackberry, everytime it dings I stopped what I am doing to check it. It has me trained! My coworkers do the same thing as well I have noticed.

If I need information I immediately Google it. I remember in the "old" days if I wanted to know something I would ask my parents, teachers, friends, whoever, I would go to the library it look at books and/or look it up in the dictionary or encyclopedia on the bookshelf at home. If I wanted the weather I had to turn on the TV and wait for it to show on the news or on the weather channel.

While I don't alaways pay attention to things like I did before the internet, I am finding that with all this information available, I am constantly searching for more and more knowledge, like I can't get enough. I will read about one topic and then become interested in another topic and search for that and so on. If I want to make a big ticket purchase I will research the product and compare prices online. During my teaching career, even still now, I was always online collaborating with other foreign language teachers via email and listservs. In many ways it is making me more knowledgeable.

It also has allowed me to connect with lots of family and friends all over the world. I can email them, Skype, see them on Facebook...all for free.  Sometimes I even dream about computers and the internet...

In my case, it has allowed me to become more efficient when it comes to the small things like directions, calculating things, and I don't have to spend a lot of time searching for answers. OTOH, it has made me more knowledeable and made me want to know even more and furthermore it causes me to want to share my knowledge.  I remember as a kid using my dad's encyclopedia set at home to look up information for school reports. It was so boring. I much prefer using the internet!

I also remember in college in one of my translating classes we were required to purchase and carry to class and huge Spanish/English dictionary. It was hard cover, huge, and very heavy. It is so much easier for me to go online and look up words on wordreference.com or any other dictionary website.

If I had to go without my computer, my blackberry, my iPod, my GPS, and all of my other gadgets, I would go insane. I would be lost in the world...I rely on it all for so much such as for entertainment, for knowledge, for communication, for school, my whole life. It is a major part of my life. I need it like I need my clothes, food, and shelter...