Random Rant #2

I hate technology with a purple passion that rages with the heat of a thousand suns. Mr. D finds my aversion rather annoying.

If I had my way, our van would have windows that roll down by hand, the gas gauge would have an actual needle and the doors would require the key to lock/ unlock them. However, newer vehicles do not come that way. Not even the cheaper models.

When Mr. D went to buy a new car a couple of years back, he wanted to get automatic windows and doors. On a Yaris. I said "absolutely not! If you can't manage this...( I leaned slightly to the left and turned an imaginary handle) you shouldn't be driving."

My sister in law and several friends balk at the fact that I have to open and close my van's sliding door myself instead of by the push of a button. I like it that way and do you know why? Because the more electronic junk you have in your car, the more impossible it becomes to use said vehicle when the electronics begin to poop out. And electronics do poop out.

For example, we purchased an older van several years ago. When the electrical system began to fail, the windows wouldn't roll down. The interior lights wouldn't turn off, then they wouldn't turn on. The gas guage stopped keeping track of how much gas I had. The brake lights wouldn't turn off (even when I disconnected the battery) and the doors would not unlock.That one was the most fun.

I would have to push the button of the fob and pull up the handle at the same time, just to open the driver door. Then we all had to pile in from there. I had two little people and I was pregnant with the third. So, the next van we got had the bare minimum of automatic-y things. I do not wish for more.

Then there was the laptop. I needed the laptop for school. Don't get me wrong, I am thankful one can get an education from home and the computer facilitates that, but woe be unto the student whose computer dies two days before classes start. If you take classes online, you HAVE to have a computer. Or you could spend the semester at the library, I guess, but then the convenience of online classes flies right out the window.

Then there is the cell phone. I felt upgraded when I got a QWERTY keyboard on my phone. I thought it was neat that I could take pictures. I'm a simple woman, so it doesn't take much to entertain me and really, making calls, taking pictures and texting is all I can manage, but no, Mr. D wanted to upgrade.

Now I have a new phone that does everything under the sun, including breaking when it's dropped. Used to be you could drop your phone and kick it across the parking lot and it would be fine. Now it freaks out if it's dropped from your lap to the ground as you step from the van.

Yes, I've already dropped it.

I'm already becoming dependant on that phone. I used it to find a Dairy Queen yesterday. I'm also attached to the scripture app. It worries me that I am looking to that phone for so many things because, inevitably, it's going to fail me and then I'll be up a creek.

So maybe it's not necessarily technology that I hate, it's becoming dependant on it that I find so aggravating.

I need my pen and paper.