This week both of us have had some of the many downsides of our technology world. I think I’ve stumbled on something that may shed some light on why we are drawn to it and consequently how we can begin to elude its grasp in the end.
I’ve been reading one of my notebooks from 1974 and it set me to thinking. Over and over again, I record the price I pay for not being organized. I think this is a real human need.
The other segment of puzzle comes when I begin U of M Flint. Here, I discover the endless possibilities of word processing. Before this time I considered the whole idea a pipe dream. But Lo, in the late 80’s I discover it is true and a computer can make it so.
These two instincts of organization and writing are underwritten by a third element which it turns out to be even more important. What is it you say? Procrastination, the final frontier.
Each new wave of technology allows us the liberty of even more postponement than before. The speed and organization of our thoughts and communications can fill past procrastinations like a glove.
This new NoteBook program allows me to pretend even more than I could before that I will achieve my goals without a lot of extra effort. Like a perpetual motion machine-stalled even before its engaged.
So, I submit this conclusion. We love and hate it for the same reasons. Our capacity to be willingly deluded by it.
