Technology and Life

I remember back in 10th or 11th grade (or something like that), we had a discussion about whether we were slaves to technology. My family wasn't exactly part of the middle class and we had just gotten a microwave/convection oven, which was a really big deal for us. I loved how convenient it made life for us (even though Mom made us unplug it whenever we were done using it) and needless to say, I was on the side of technology being slaves of us.

Fast forward a few years (okay, so it’s more than a few...) and here in the 21st Century, I constantly ask myself if everything we have is everything we need. I love my cell phone since I can make calls anywhere. (Though at times it does feel like an electronic leash…) I love the beautiful car I drive, the digital camera we have, etc.

I love my our laptop (Sorry Hon!) and how portable it is. It is packed with power and *blush* some status. Seriously, it’s absolutely fantastic for our business. Our Flash presentations include so much more information than our paper presentations that I can’t imagine going back to sharing our business on paper. Don’t get me wrong, our business is often built by people with no computers at all. However I can’t deny that technology is indeed a wonderful servant, making life easier for us. We can show our business model to someone in Hawaii while sitting comfortably in bed thousands of miles away, or we can run our business in the United States while spending time in Singapore.

Yet, we’ve spent a good part of the last month trying to deal with technological and trust issues since a Trojan virus snuck in through an Adobe update. We’ve tried various virus/spyware/cleaning programs to remove it and the rogue cleaner that was used. We used a real pain-in-the-tushy program that picked up everything, including the connection to our printer! Finally, we have decided to sacrifice the remaining month on our protection program subscription. As I am blogging, I’m in the process of installing Norton 360 on both computers.

So I think about the numerous hours spent on trying to get the computers back up to speed (literally too since one was bogged down by phantom processes), about whether our various transactions and other sensitive information have been safe, and again wonder: Is technology really freeing us or making slaves of us?

Can I live without technology? Probably not. (Even if I thought I could, it probably wouldn’t be for long…) Does this stop me from using it? Of course not. It is a very useful tool. As we know in our business, people are the most important. All our presentations, technological tools and other hi-tech stuff will never compare to the people. And that is where Life is: relationships.