Complication Overload

I just bought a new car recently, and it dawned on me that there are so many complications with the new technology. So I thought back to when I was a kid and asked myself - how many passwords did I have? My technology was the little football game that ran on 4 AA batteries - you know the one with the little dots? Otherwise I was outside playing.

So now I look at kids and they are totally dependent upon all technology. How many passwords do they need to keep straight? I myself have at least 12 separate passwords - don't forget the keywords, number combinations, addresses, etc.

So this new car has sattelite everything, wireless everything, enhanced everything. When is it that things were so complicated? We have to literally be technologists about everything - network engineers, electronic engineers, software engineers... then there so much more information on these little gadgets - we can get Al Jazeera and the BBC on sattelite TV, listen to Mongolian fire dancers on Sattelite radio, find out how to get to the friggin store by sattelite GPS. We've got the latest formulated and over-produced songs downloaded from the internet, every fart and whistle of all the Presidents men, overanalyzed and arm-chair quarterbacked by every 24 hour cable station, every minute of every day. American's on average are over-medicated (on average, each American takes 2 perscription drugs on a regular basis - we'll leave the illegal drugs out of the conversation for another time), we eat genetically engineered vegetables from genetically engineered seeds, hormone injected chickens and cows produce super-eggs and super-steaks and super-milk. We walk around like robots with iPods stuck in our ears and it seems we'll now be able to watch our favorite Tivo'd television program on our cell phones. How much more crap do we need for crying out loud?

So I hear myself say - well dude, what do you expect? You can't stop progress! I'm sure our parents of the 40's and 50's thought the same thing.



What I'm starting to gravitate to, however, are the simpler things and the simpler times. I think I'd like an iPod, but I'll probably forget it in a shirt pocket and put it through the washer (kinda like I did with my bluetooth headset that now turns on, but won't work with my phone any longer!) If I DID get an iPod, I'd probably only put my Old Time Radio programs on it. You know... Gracie & Allen, The Jack Benny Show, The Shadow... I'm yearning for the simpler times, the simpler life. I work too much and too long, have too much stuff, get too much information and I'm tired of it. I want LESS work, LESS information and I want to stop getting THINGS. I recently spent lots of money to have an 80 year old radio, I've started to listen to those golden era shows from the 1940's and have admittedly, been listening to some... Frank Sinatra from time to time. That DOESN'T mean that I'm not listening to good pop, heavy junk... I am, but it's just too much.

I've also been getting too much analysis, too much information, too much - I don't want to know some of the things on the news. I'm better off NOT knowing the inner workings of the White House, Capital Hill, my local Mayor or the inner workings of the Military. I guess I'm just ready to simplify and not looking forward to the next best and greatest gadget that needs yet another password and if stolen, could put me in the poor house.

I guess I'm just ready to switch off once in a whi..............