Blackberries make the best pies...and should be reserved for that!

A friend recently forwarded to me an item she had written.... sort of
about... how modern techno-toys are invading our lives with bad
results.

Here follows my reply:

I think you're missing some things.

There is a generational thing happening, to be sure.

Every new generation has a brave new world of technology that they
have grown up with... and that has changed life as we know it... to a
great extent.

These new tools all go through, what I would call, "a play time
period".... a honeymoon of sorts... when they first come out.

Do you remember when everyone was FAX-ing in their lunch order to the
restaurant...?

Remember when having an email address suddenly became more important
than having a fax number...?

Remember when having a fax number on your business card become
old-fashioned and obsolete...?

Every time a new technology comes out, all the geeks jump on it....
and play with it.

And, quickly, a few things happen:

(1) They quickly get bored with the simple novelty of it.

and ...

(2) They figure out what this new technology could actually BEST be
used for... (even if not the purpose it was originally touted for)

Blackberries and iPhones are some of the latest toys of the present.

They will continue to evolve.... and improve. They will become
intuitively easy to use... Until every human can use them as easily
as using an elevator or a toaster.

There's not going to be any avoiding them, or not using them... Just
as it's virtually impossible to NOT use a telephone.... in modern
life.

However, they do not, and will not, replace personal interaction.
They only AUGMENT our lives. Like every new technology, life will
settle in to it... and it will find its comfortable place... (until
it is replaced with the next great new thing)...

Fighting it, like the old geezer out on Route 3 who still refuses to
subscribe to a telephone line, is useless. It's a losing strategy no
matter how you look at it.

The best strategy is to embrace it. Understand it. Figure out how
it could actually benefit your life. Figure out how it could help
you... and what it will NOT replace...

Fit it in, as comfortably, and quickly, as you can.

This will make the transition more painless, and beneficial, all the way around.

There is also a very real need for the masses to understand, at least
a bit, about this brave new world we are entering... because, if the
public has no concept of what is happening around them ---- and is as
bewildered by it as a rain forest tribe dropped into Times Square ---
then we will have serious problems. Threats, even, to freedom and
democracy, etc., etc., etc.

If the public has no concept of what Twitter is, for example, then
they will have no concept of how twittering is instantaneously
influencing the election, for example. And then, they will be easily
fooled and manipulated. ...leading to very bad consequences.

One of my personal "callings" (or self-assigned "jobs"), is to help
people do just that.

With the television shows Ed & I are working on, one of the major
categories will be "Personal Technology"... which I define very
broadly, as.... Pretty much anything that can make your life
simpler, better, easier, more productive, profitable, and fun. The
main focus is NOT going to be on what's new... or what has the most
new buttons.... No. The focus will be on what is the BEST at
improving your life.... And act as a "How To"... to TEACH people
simple ways that they can implement these tools --- both the new and
old --- both high-tech and low-tech --- into their lives. ...in
plain simple English, by the way.

I hope we can help massive numbers of people in profound ways. That
is our goal.

:-)


Only Love,

Bruce