A little rant on technology….

I don't mean to offend anyone but....

Ok, so technology is all nice and swell. It helps me format and edit my books in record time, do research, etc.

But at what point is too much?

Example 1: The other day, I was driving down the highway, minding my own business, when a car cut in front of me – incredibly close, might I say. The driver, a young-ish looking millennial, had her iPhone/smartphone on the wheel, and swerved into my lane to avoid the highway exit she was heading towards.

Example 2: The last couple of times I’ve been into a restaurant – or even to watch a movie! – people have their noses so deeply buried in their little gadgets, they don’t even pay attention to their partners/friends/family.

What is the point, I ask you, to go out to presumably enjoy time with loved ones, when all you’re going to do is have your nose buried in a piece of technology?

I’m sure you guys have your own experiences with it (do feel free to post below). It’s worrisome to think our kids will be growing up in a world where having an iPhone/iPad at age 3 is expected and frowned upon if you don’t have one.

I learned about internet and got my first computer when I was 11, living at the time in Romania. My parents had never felt the need to introduce it earlier, and even so, I was only allowed for limited amounts of time. I used it for research, and the occasional game of Solitaire, then got off.

Like most teenagers/young adults, I had a phase where I had my phone glued to me – but never when with friends or family, unless it was an emergency. That phase soon ended when I broke five iPhones in the span of as many years, and had to pay for them. Nothing cures you from tech addiction as much as a bill! I’ve now downgraded to a cheap, but usable, Samsung flip phone, that does the job of calling and texting, for the time being.

Eventually, I will get another iPhone, only because with all the marketing us self-published authors do, it’s a lot easier to access everything on one device, and not drag a laptop around – as I am currently doing.

However, I can’t help but be incredibly annoyed when I notice abuse of technology – in my own circles too. Let’s not even bring up the stories of parents being so stuck to their phones they forget their kids. Or people being so addicted to Pokemon Go, they run into police cruisers, off cliffs, into train paths… etc.

What is the world coming to? Is anyone else thinking we’re headed towards an age of artificial intelligence and virtual realities?