I’m not a “techy” type of guy and it took a while for me to onto
certain social media sites. My 20-year old often despairs about my lack of willingness
to spend time on the phone. To a certain extent, I do believe that we can get
too dependent on technology and one of the highlights of this year was getting
myself to a place where I literally shut down my social media contact and enjoyed
peace and nature. If you think about it carefully, humanity has survived and thrived
without all sorts of gadgets, so there’s no reason to assume to that certain
things are essential to our daily lives.
Having said that, I find it very unusual when people take
pride in not using technology when the technology clearly benefits them. This is
particularly true when it comes to finding your bearings in a different place
and let us not forget that I am the man who came bottom of his Company during
my Section Leaders Course in basic navigation.
For someone like me, apps like Google Maps are a God-send. The
app finds you and tells you where to go. Only a deaf and blind person (as far
as I know, apps don’t work in braille) would not be able to find their way with
the app. Yet and yet, there are people who insist on not using the available
tools to get them out of their predicament.
My most recent foray overseas was to Macau with the kid. Our
tour guide didn’t know where to go and insisted on asking for directions in a
language that a good portion of the population chose not to speak (English). It
reached a stage where I told the kid to use her GPS as her overseas roaming
plan offered her cheap data options despite being overseas. Needless to say, we
had to sack the tour guide.
Technology does make life easier. While I do believe that it
is necessary to be able to live without it, we shouldn’t ignore it especially
when it’s in the palm of our hands and enables us to cut through the chase. In
a time-starved world, shouldn’t we value the things that save us time?
I once went out with someone who got lost. We were going around
in circles until I turned on Google Maps and proceeded to follow instructions.
Didn’t please my travel companion but we got to the intended destination.
We have the tools to make life simpler. We should use them.
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