Recently the laptop I'd been using for about three years died a sudden, unexpected death. My little Dell had been a loyal and efficient piece of technology, and a huge upgrade from the ancient laptop I'd used before it. As it turns out, my laptop hadn't been a particularly good model by computer standards, but to me it was great.
It's a little bizarre how attached we become to our devices. One of my most expensive and most awesome purchases in high school was my iPod Touch, which is more than outdated by today's standards. It glitches from time to time and will likely need to be replaced (which I'm actually looking forward to a lot), but it has been a great, loyal addition to my technology "family."
When my laptop died I immediately started looking for replacements. When I first got a laptop it was considered a privilege, but not at all necessary. It made writing my novels easier, but that wasn't even necessary since I could still write in a notebook with pen. Today, I NEED a laptop for school, trying to get my novels published, job searching, and keeping relationships strong with far-away friends. It's not a luxury to have a laptop anymore, but a necessity.
We become very personally attached to our gadgets. It's exciting to get a new one, and incredibly frustrating and disappointing when they don't work as well as they used to. At the same time, it's a machine that very quickly becomes obsolete and outdated within a few years. While we are being attached to these inanimate objects, we must also remain very distant because they will only last for a couple years at best.
It's a very strange balance in the technologically advanced world we live in.
I don't think its a bad thing that we have become attached to our technology like this, although personally I like to think of them more as a "team" then a "family." Every single piece of my gear has been selected with a purpose, and once it stops being able to fulfill that purpose, I make the investment to replace it, just as they would replace any sports athlete who gets past his prime.
ReplyDeleteWhile it is still sad to see tech go, thinking of my recording studio as The Avengers instead of The Adams Family make me feel just a little bit cooler on the inside.