Thanks to the internet...

It's been a while since I've written, but quite honestly, nothing has really bugged me enough to rant. So just when I think I'm becoming a more content person, the internet goes down, and hence my latest rant.

Yes, we were all diligently typing away and going about our daily duties when all of a sudden someone yelled out, "Is anyone else having problems with the internet?" We all checked, of course, and sure enough, no one could get a response. The office manager called Verizon, the mega-monopoly-wanna-be of the telecommunications world, and their phone lines were all busy. What are the chances of that? One of the world's biggest telecommunication companies, and they don't have enough lines to talk to everyone. All I have to say is, "Can you hear me now?" Apparently not!

We all continued on, trying to perform our daily duties, but we all noticed quite quickly that a single person, let alone an entire company, can't do much work without the internet. First of all, you can continue to send emails until you're blue in the face, but sooner or later you run out of emails to send and you realize that no one is replying because their emails can't get through on a down line. Second, if you have a job like mine where you depend on (and oh I hate to use that word) the internet for flight numbers and times, as well as hotel and venue addresses all over the world, etc., you no longer have access to that information. One more aspect of my job comes to a screeching halt.

Finally, after you exhaust all of your additional resources (like the telephone, the fax and if worse comes to worse, the good old-fashioned US Postal Service or in my case, the typewriter) and find you're getting no where, you realize that your emails are still out there, floating around in oblivion, and you don't know if they've actually been received, let alone even sent. I received three emails back that never made it to their destination. So where are the rest of them? No one has replied yet.

As you can probably see, modern technology is only good to a certain point. And that point is the breaking point. In this day and age, everyone, to some degree, depends on technology. Whether it's your alarm clock or your PDA, you somehow, some way depend on technology to get through the day. Remember when we all said we were only going to use our cell phones just for emergencies? Now you're lucky to find an elementary school kid who even knows what a land line is.

The modern world, or I should really say, the American modern world is being consumed by technology (the rest of the world still has an "old-world" quality about it). Forget the statistics that quote how much people depend on drugs or alcohol. Try doing a study on how much the average American depends on technology. I think we'd find out soon enough that there is a far worse epidemic in this country than dependent substances--TECHNOLOGY!!!

Don't get me wrong, the internet is great for communicating across the globe, and I truly would not be able to do my job as well without it. However, there comes a point when we have to say, "STOP!!!" I can't tell you how many people continue to work on the bus or train ride home, checking their voicemails and PDAs all the way to their final destination. Give it up people! Work ended at 5:30PM. Take a break, enjoy dinner with your family (remember them?) and get some sleep. There will still be plenty of work to do in the morning. You're not going to miss anything.

I think it should be mandatory that everyone take a week or two and live amongst the Amish. They don't have any technology, very little, if any (like a community phone booth for everyone to use once a week). It would be a great experience to help us all remember where we came from. Remember when you learned about the Pilgrims and the Pioneers in history class? They didn't have the internet or cell phones. They had their families, their communities and their bare hands to do everything. Ahh, the good old days!

So here's your task for the week. Try to step back from technology. Take a break. It will still be there; it's always developing and growing like a plague we'll never be able to avoid. But please, take time to talk to your spouse, your kids, your neighbor. Turn off your cell phone and take a walk. Leave your PDA in your desk. Don't turn the computer on all weekend. Enjoy life for what it is. Trust me, it's much more than what the internet leads you to believe.

An extra thought: Did you ever notice the term internet always seems to be capilatized? Why? It's not God, a person or a country. It's not a holiday or a city. It's a thing. A thing we can't even really see. Spellcheck even says the term should be capitalized. Task number two for this week: Don't capitalize the term internet like corporate America wants you to (if you notice above, I didn't capitalize it once). It's just one more way for them to take control of our lives. Let's not give them the chance.

Pirate-worthy quote: "Not all men seek rest and peace, some are born with the spirit of the storm in their blood, restless harbingers of violence and bloodshed, knowing no other path."

Source Quote: Description of the "Free Companions" from: The Stalker of the Sands [The Savage Sword Of Conan, the Barbarian Vol.1 no. 54]) (Thanks to the Island of Tortuga website at http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Garden/5213/)