Gadgets and Technology

Too many Gadgets, or not enough?  Most people love their electronic gadgets - iPods, Cell Phones, CamCorders, even the new Amazon Kindle - a portable book reader.  Seems no one buys CDs anymore, they just download them from sites like Amazon.com.  Don't go too crazy, but DO enjoy these Electronic gadgets!  Where's the best place to buy Electronics?  Amazon.com, of course!  Here's a sample of what they sell.  If you don't see what you want, just click on the Amazon logo and browse their online store.  Amazon.com is the best place online to buy Books, DVDs, Clothes, Electronics and the latest gadget, Kindle, (see the ad in the article), and at Great Prices!

Signs of Aging (Have we become our parents?) by Angelica Candelaria    9/2/08 As I recently engaged in a serious and stimulating dialogue with a friend, I recognized an amusing undercurrent girding our impassioned proclamations... I could only conclude that we had become old geezers. Not really. (As an aside, I dislike that particular delineation.) However, I could not deny that our laments sounded hauntingly familiar. One generation scoffing at certain mindsets of the one proceeding it, reminiscing about the halcyon days we relished in our younger years when circumstances were distinct and the world seemed much simpler, even though human beings never have been. We sounded like parents, even though neither one of us has children. This specific portion of the conversation began when my friend mentioned his growing distaste for Wikipedia and its unreliability, along with Internet culture in general. His assertion that anyone could assume a veneer of authority when discussing a subject online has its foundations. It is upon many an occasion that boldness eludes one, except when sitting anonymously behind a computer screen, where one can become an "expert" without any real threat to one's credibility beyond, perhaps, a vitriolic e-mail or message from a complete stranger. The discussion did not end there. I responded to him with a few observations of my own, moving well beyond the initial subject. As always, my friend received more than he bargained for as he read my incessant ramblings. Now you have been afforded the same wonderful opportunity! Books and Libraries Using his comments about Internet culture and Wikipedia as a springboard, I mentioned how people used to conduct their research. They would spend hours at the library poring over books, reading newspaper clippings, glancing through magazines, and using that old machine we used to know as the microfiche! In this age of immediate accessibility to numerous sources of information, we find it arduous to sit down and read a book, to follow a complex line of thought for more than a moment. Days ago, I came upon a new product: "Kindle," a $359 wireless reading device that holds over 200 titles and, according to the description, "looks and reads like real paper." An impressive gadget, one that I am certain many consumers will find both enjoyable and useful. I too have access to over 200 titles--at my local library. There, I've the physical pleasure of holding a book in my hands (and even borrowing a good number of them) for a whopping $0. Not only this, I have the added bonus of reading the words on actual paper, not an electronic facsimile of it. Ipods This is not a criticism against Ipod users, far from it. Rather, it is an expression of disappointment that, in a time when most songs are downloaded, I can no longer enter a music store (those that yet exist) without encountering rows of empty shelves or endless aisles of used Compact Discs. Downloading music onto a portable device that I carry with me--further feeding into an individualistic, isolationist society where we all walk about in our own little worlds--does not compare to the delight of purchasing a release (be it in vinyl, cassette, or disc format), taking it home, and savoring it as it plays on a stereo while you gaze at the cover, read the liner notes, and actually sit still as you listen. My friend mentioned his intense displeasure at statements like, "CDs are so old fashioned!" I am still thinking of 8-tracks and wondering why on earth one of our local music stores replaced all of their gloriously nostalgic vinyl records with clothes! "No need to save up for or take time to 'get into' an album - it's just brash fast-food consumerism." Another astute observation by my friend, the above quote reminded me of our society's general unwillingness to embrace the concept of delayed gratification. It is no longer "necessary" to discipline yourself by budgeting and saving money for an item when you can live beyond your means through the use of a plastic card that allows you to charge everything. Enjoy it now, pay later...with interest. All this being said, I am grateful for many of the technological advancements of our day and safely presume that my friend shares these sentiments. However, it is a painful irony that while technology has served to increase our methods of communication and accessibility to information and goods, it has also encouraged us to become more disconnected from one another, to retain less of a focus, to simply consume. In some ways, we have been stripped of simple pleasures; in others, we have become emotionally stunted: islands unto ourselves, anesthetized to the value of patience. As I reflected upon my friend and I, our mingled thoughts during this discourse, I experienced something beyond amusement. I felt gratitude for the blessing of growing older despite any changes I might deem unpleasant. In this regard, I am all too happy to resemble my parents. Comments

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