High Tech Wipeout

I am sitting here thinking about how I am hooked on technology. Our Internet service is again non-existent due to, I presume, the monsoonal storms we are having on a daily basis. Of course I have called the irritating recording supplied by our service and the message, which is 48 hours old, says everything is hunky dory. No, everything isn’t hunky dory and it sucks. The fact that it is Saturday only makes the situation worse. I can’t talk to a human being until Monday!

Which brings me to this blog and the fact that I can’t post it; what if all communication technology were to cease and desist on our planet? Now that is a scary thought, and in fact so scary that a horror movie could be made from it. Instant communications would be disrupted and people like me would go into a tailspin and fall at the speed of light.

The thought of me sending something snail mail is so frightening my skin is crawling with goose bumps. Just think of having to use a landline to make a call; if that doesn’t get your bumps jumping, how about no texting? In other words, folks, no instant communication anytime, anywhere, anyhow. We will be sitting in a techno void where all you can hear is the rapid beating of your heart getting ready to explode from apprehension.

There is one silver lining for us older folks who remember when there were no cell phones or Internet. In fact, I remember rotary dials on phones and when there were pay phones

on every block. Come to think of it, I remember going to work in the mornings and stopping for breakfast at Denny’s with no cell phone strapped to my hip ringing incessantly while I was trying to eat my Grand Slam.

When I got to work, I had one phone in my construction trailer and a pay phone outside for workers to use. I sometimes wonder how we ever got a project finished with no cell phones or texting. I remember walking through projects and not being interrupted by the sound of a bull elk’s mating call or God only knows what other kind of ring tone.

I actually did have a Motorola truck phone in the seventies.

It was permanently mounted and it had a horn feature. When the phone rang the horn sounded off. Of course the only time I ever used this feature was when I was at the bar. If the wife called to find out why I was late getting home, I could run out and answer her call and she couldn’t hear the loud music in the bar. Otherwise, there was no way I was going to run to the truck on a construction site just to have the caller hang up when I reached the truck out of breath. I had no idea that the truck phone would be the start of a communications revolution. I also had no idea that our privacy would be invaded from that moment on.

Perhaps the communications failure scenario would not be so scary after all; we could get back to simpler times and lives with abundant serenity for everyone. No freaking way, I refuse to go through the withdrawals! What about the younger folks who have always had instant communications? Let’s face it; they couldn’t handle life without their portable devices. Armageddon? I’m thinking the Old Testament had it all wrong. Take away our instant communications and the prophecy will be fulfilled….

I’m just saying,

Mittster