The other day a colleague of mine gave me a 1965 edition of Webster’s Dictionary.  I think he was going to just toss it until I saw it and asked to look at it.  Semi puzzled by my excitement he said; “if you want it, it’s yours.  It doesn’t even have the word “fax” in it, can you imagine that?”  Needless to say I was thrilled.

Yes I have an arsenal of electronic reading devices however I still love a real book. Something that you can turn real pages in, something with a beautifully crafted hard cover.  Not a digital image of a hard cover, the real thing.  I still appreciate the simplicity of communication.  In fact I still appreciate a lot of the simple things that life has to offer…pre high tech.

Which brings me to the day following receiving this book.  My daughter and I were loitering at a certain technology store (you know the one in which everyone has headsets, clip boards and only one mission…take your reservation to actually speak with someone) and I realized just how overwhelming technology could be at times.  Well at least for me but then again I’m almost half a century old.

As I stood there while she played with electronics I had no intention of purchasing for her that day (only because she too has everything) I realized just how much we’ve come to rely on these somewhat smart gadgets with cutting edge technology to manage our lives via simple day-to-day tasks (because we’re all far too busy to do them the old fashioned way).

There are apps for almost everything from simple navigation (does anyone else notice how agitated siri gets when you don’t follow her directions?) to wiping your ass…okay maybe not that but those clever developers are almost there.  It’s to a point where we practically don’t have to touch anything other than our electronic devices to get things done.  I think a friend of mine once planted an herb garden using an app.  Sure it wasn’t a real garden per se but who cares.  It was more about the digital accomplishment.  It seems we live in a world run by apps in which it’s acceptable to bask in a digital accomplishment when in the absence of the real McCoy.

Don’t get me wrong, I do appreciate the apps I use but I don’t use nearly as many apps as my daughter and her friends.  I taught myself how to knit a couple a weeks ago just because I love the look and feel of wool yarn so much.  I bet there’s a knitting app that will create a beautiful digitally hand-knitted scarf you can share with all of your friends.

Another friend of mine showed me an app for “spin the bottle”.  Crazy right?  Of course I didn’t ask why she needed such an app…I just don’t want to know.

So while I stood there watching my daughter and everyone else in the store (yes most of them way younger than I) I realized that although I use technology every day I still desire doing things the old fashioned way.  And as much as I hate to admit this, it makes me somewhat hesitant to move forward and embrace new technology (or I should say, as much new technology) near as much as the younger generation.

And then I had an interesting thought (or maybe an acceptance moment).  I said to myself “it’s a good thing older generations (like me) will eventually die off otherwise we’d just be getting in the way of new technology adoption, therefore delaying the advancement of it all together”.

Suddenly feeling like a used tire ready to be pitched into to the “old fashioned” waste lands (and okay with that) I thought to myself, “I wonder if there’s an app that might keep track of all the technology things that I need to be up to speed with but can’t seem to manage”.  Maybe there’s an app called “Faking the Funk when you’re too far-gone to just keep up”.  I’m sure if it exists I’ll need my daughter’s help to download and set it up.

I quickly snap out of it, return to the present moment in this techno environment and ask my daughter “hey, want to check out what’s new at Godiva?”  The speed in which she released the snappy little smart device and responded with a “YES, LET’S GO NOW!!!” told me that there might just still be a little room left in this world for some good old fashioned low-tech pleasures in life…at lease during my lifetime that is.

I am,
The Urban Mountaineer