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America's obsession with technology presses my buttons
November 19, 2008
By Lynne Tolep
As I press the remote to open my car door, I can't help but reflect on how many more buttons I now press than in the past.
My keyless-entry vehicle allows me to enter and begin my destination.
The
overhead device that controls the garage door opener allows me to "go
on my merry way" without having to open or close the garage manually.
I program my GPS to where I am heading, and chart my return trip by pressing "Take Me Home."
Should
I travel via the turnpike, Sunpass, attached to my dashboard, will
deduct the toll from my pre-registered credit card. I no longer require
coins, nor make any effort to open and close my driver's side window.
Should
I decide to use my cellular phone while en route, I simply press the
name of the chosen person, and the number is dialed automatically.
Speaking
of not using one's brains, I know my grandchildren use "spell check" to
correct their homework automatically. (Why learn to spell?) While
"texting" everyone they know in the world from their individual cell
phones, they have a new language that has very little to do with
English once taught in our schools. Their BFFs (best friends forever)
must be LOL (laughing out loud)!
On car trips, each of them is
plugged into their individual iPods to listen to a choice of their
favorite thousand tunes that they've personally downloaded. Should the
trip be of longer duration, the automatic DVD player gets activated,
and the driver is freed of all need to interact through conversation.
No more "Let's count license plates," "Let's play geography," or "Who
knows a good story?"
This got me to thinking. (Finally!)
If
Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection is correct, the animals with the
longest necks that could reach the vegetation from the highest trees
became what we know today — giraffes!
If we stop using our
brains, will a future species of humans have small heads on large
bodies ... like the dinosaurs? We all know what became of them. Now,
that's something to really think about!
Lynne Tolep is a resident of Boynton Beach.
Everybody I know, including the one that's thinking of adding yet another activity to his life....singing!....doesn't have time for such things, right? 
Hmmmmmmm, yeah, but now that I think of it, that would be the person....because, time or no time, HE HAS TONS OF TOYS AND WANTS MORE! 
