I'm still waiting for my transportation pod

At what point would you say technology has successfully invaded your life?

Is it the influx of surveillance cameras on streets, in malls, occasionally even in taxis, watching and recording as you go about your business? Perhaps it’s the realization that more than half your day is spent on the computer or the Internet, the realization that you work online, study online, even date online.

For me, I realized technology had reached a ridiculous height when my 12-year-old-cousin started text messaging my cell phone via hers. I didn’t get a cell phone until I was 19 and headed off the farm for the big city, when it was thought a cell phone would protect me from rapists and the homeless while I wandered downtown. I must note that I may just be hating on cell phone use because Bell Mobility continues to suck money from my bank account and the bank accounts of my family in exchange for sub-par service (Damn you, Bell! You and your chinsy daytime minutes!)

But why does a 12-year-old need a cell phone? Are that many children wandering cities alone? Maybe that is where the real problem lies. Using a pink, credit card-sized yak device as a babysitter likely isn’t the solution we should be aiming for.

Has the first-world society we live in really become that desensitized to technological advancements that children with cell phones, television on the go and ovens that clean themselves seems normal? Imagine a person from an underdeveloped country exploring our everyday technology. Think of how amazing he or she would find even our most common advancements like microwaves, automatic garage door openers and streetlights.

I am worried where technology will take us next. On one hand, I’m excited for the day I can climb into my transportation pod and fly across Ontario to visit friends in various cities. On the other, I am scared that technology will ruin what’s left of human contact in the world. I mean, why does my cousin send me a text message instead of just calling me and asking how I am?

Perhaps, then, it isn’t the invasion or convenience ever-changing technologies bring to our lives that matter. Maybe it’s the precious human interaction they take away that we should be truly concerned about.