Glass Half Empty

Technology? Please tell me how life is so much better. Cell phones causing auto deaths and disturbing restaurants, beaches, churches, concerts, movies, classrooms, even pruning a quiet garden. People walking, driving, shopping, sitting while on a cell phone. The Apple store overwhelmed trying to fix phones and devices or replace with another for $600 only six months old. I so long for the days coming home to a voice message on my machine!

Last week I spent $363 to fix my hacked computer. First time scammed online that didn’t work, then to the repair tech who spent two days trying to clean me up. Maybe now, just maybe, my identity won’t be stolen, won’t loose my savings or spend months trying to recover. But there is no security in that work. I used to sleep at night without worry from most of the dangers of life. I could control them. Now I simply cannot. Is this a better way to live?

I wrote my first dissertation on a typewriter with carbon paper. I copied it on a Xerox machine, walked it to my adviser’s office, went home, and slept amazingly well. Today, I know that ISIS uses social media to kill people. Hackers can take control of airplanes; pedophiles can convince your 12-year-old to meet them after school. A sick criminal can ruin your life from a damp, darkened basement with a laptop.

In the world we have designed, we have no safety, so very little security. It must be governed by cameras at the street lights and in store shelves. With all technology has brought in value, it has destroyed so much more in our quality of life.