To the editor:

Is technology really making us better?

I guess you could call me a hybrid. I have embraced the technology of today while longing for the simplicity of the past.

Yes, we have multiple computers and game systems in our house with wireless Internet and streaming Netflix, but I don’t have a Smartphone or a tablet and up until Christmas of 2010 I didn’t have a flat-screen TV. Heck, I still don’t have a Blu-ray player.

Recently, I saw two separate instances in two different parts of the state that made me scratch my head and say we have gone mad as a society. They make me question whether technology has really made us better.

The instances I speak of took place in retail parking lots where individuals with open rear hatches on their minivans were apparently trying to close them with a button that is on the door and their keychain.

Again, you will have to forgive me because my vehicles are 14 and 12 years old, so we are not upto date on the luxuries of modern cars. The doors would not close remotely, and these individuals struggled for several minutes pushing buttons as opposed to just manually shutting the door.

Darwin was the first thing that jumped into my mind as I realized survival of the fittest is no longer an option. The science that Darwin embraced has destroyed our ability to thin the herd and we have all been dumbed down.

I see it every day. People can’t carry on conversations because they would rather email or text. They can’t even complete a full sentence.

My kids think I am mean because I limit screen time and tell them to get outside, but we are losing our sense of being unless we are connected to something electronic.

I go to sporting events and all I see is a sea of iPhones and I wonder: Do people even know what is going on?

People always laugh at me when I ask what they are going to do when the technology fails, as if this information superhighway we are riding on is limitless.

I enjoy the things technology has given me, but I don’t want to become a machine or be held hostage by one. I want to be able to feel the pages of a book and have a real conversation with my wife and kids, and I darn sure will be able to close the trunk on my car in no time flat while the lemmings are pushing their buttons.

Travis Spencer,
Bath

letters@timesrecord.com