.png)
So, I know that I'm a little tied to my technology. The thought of going without email for even five minutes sends me into a cold sweat. So yesterday, I about had a panic attack. My work email - the address I use for just about everything - went down for about 3 hours. And when I say down I mean our provider couldn't even find a record of us.An hour and a half later and after being hung up on twice they eventually found us and corrected the problem (we weren't the only ones with the problem). But for several hours I was lost. And what's worse, the emails that people sent me during that time are lost. Unrecoverable. I'll never see them again.
It's amazing how quickly we become dependent on technology. Cable TV, telephone service, cell phone service. It used to be electricity for cooking and heat and water for the necessities of survival were most important...now I don't think I could function without my cell phone. Heck, if the power and water were to go out I'd have no way of notifying our company without my cell phone.
So I was whining, complaining, and then saw a news story about the aftermath of Ike. I can't imagine being in Texas right now, suffering through that. In comparison, my lack of email was a niggling annoyance. Dealing with the loss of life and property, the lack of routine supplies and staples, now that is a real problem. Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the storm.
What technology are you dependent on?
Instigator
P.S. Virginia is the winner from yesterday. Please contact the Playground Monitor to claim your prize.
16 comments:
The internet of course.
If there was one thing I wouldn't want to do without, it would be a cell phone. At least if my internet went out or whatever, I could still call people I needed to get in touch with. Especially since I have family out-of-state.
Angel
I couldn't live without my cell phone, internet, and my dvr. My cell is my only phone so I really have to make sure I get a great one.
The internet, my cell phone, satellite tv.
Cable tv, telephone, computer, and cell phone is a nice additon.
robertsonreads
I could give up the cable TV. Of course the easiest piece of technology in my house to let go of would be the Wii (sorry DG!)
Don't even ask me to give up my internet, though. I have heart palpitations even thinking about it!
I'm not sure how anyone lived in the south before the invention of A/C.
I can't even fathom what the folks hit by Ike are going through right now.
I remember not having central A/C in the house I grew up in. We had a little window unit we'd run sometimes, but usually we just ran a box fan. I remember we'd put it in the window to pull in the cooler night air. I also didn't have A/C in the dorm at college, but we were in the mountains and I don't remember it being all that bad. Again, we had a fan in the window.
I keep thinking about all those people in Ike's wake too -- no power and no water. Or if they have water, it has to be boiled, which is hard if you don't have power. We think the gas situation is bad here, but it's worse there.
I could give up the cell cause I don't use it that much anyway, but it's a nice convenience and gives me a good sense of security when I travel alone. I'll step up to the mike and admit "My name is Marilyn and I'm an internet-aholic." For me, it's almost like reading the encyclopedia, just on a computer screen instead of in a book. Actually we never bought a set of encyclopedias for our kids. They always used the internet in addition to the library.
PM
Internet. I could manage without tv or the phone as long as I had the internet. It's terrible. When it isn't working, my world grinds to a halt. Maybe its because we all work solitarily most of the time. Its our social outlet.
When I lived in Northern Arizona, we didn't have A/C. Didn't really need it. Tucson had swamp coolers, Las Vegas had A/C. It always amazes me how Chicago or NYC can have so many homes without it. That's why so many elderly die during heat waves.
Internet. With that, I can do most everything I need to do. TV is not a problem to give up. I love my cell phone, but mostly for the convenience. Don't really like to talk on it.
But no Internet?! Eeeek!
My brother was without power for a week after Gustav. He had a generator, but that was only for the important things. They came through all right, but he said he was starting to get worried at about the one week point. It's not fun to be without power for so long.
We were without power for an entire day in Hawaii. The entire island was with power. It was after the earthquake. Three things that I learned were very important: cell phone with car charger, gas grill with plenty of gas, and a landline phone that does not depend on batteries or anything. Just a regular, featureless plug in phone. They work when your fancy cordless won't.
We were without only a day, and that was bad enough. Can't imagine what the people in Texas are going through. :(
Internet. No question about it. I don't watch a lot of TV or talk on the phone but let the internet go down and I am in panic mode.
Cell phone with Internet. ;)
I could lose cell phones, TVs, land-line phones. I'm actually already considering getting rid of some of that!
But you'll pry my internet out of my cold, dead hands.
If for no other reason than I can use the internet as a substitute phone or TV, but it is, of course, so much more than that.
And, believe it or not PC, if the Lord were for some reason to bring a plague and we would only be spared by sacrificing a piece of technology, I too would have no problem letting the Wii go. It's just a toy. Choosing that is a bit of a cop-out, actually.
Although...
If we're assuming that TVs are still in the house, they cannot be used with a DVR. Live TV is a complete waste of effort.
I would have, at one point, specified the TiVo brand as indispensable, but, while I do still believe them to be superior, they have lost some of their glitter.
We just had to trade in our Tivo for a DVR because our satellite provider got out of the Tivo business. It's been a chore to reprogram everything. Plus the DVR doesn't have the capacity to pull in off-air HD transmissions. So we had to get an off-air tuner. Fortunately it was all part of the free upgrade. But now I have a High Def Tivo that we purchased when we got the whole system 3 1/2 years ago.
Now if the DH can just get the universal remote reprogrammed we'll be back in good shape.
Can't live with cable tv, internet and cell phone service.
Tivo!
And my laptop, which died on Monday. I MISS IT!!!
Post a Comment