Technology- Good or Evil?

Warning: I'm writing this in the middle of a temper tantrum. Unfortunately, it is NOT my two-year-old, but myself of which I speak.

For the most part, I am amazed with how far technology has come in my lifetime. I enjoy and take for granted conveniences that were not available to me ten or even five years ago. As a military spouse, when my husband is gone, we can video chat via Skype, email, use cell phones and pretty much communicate instantly. Gone are the days- even when when we were first married almost twelve years ago- where he had to stand in a long line of soldiers for use of the phone and was only allotted ten or fifteen minutes. The days where I waited for the elusive phone call and was afraid of missing it and not knowing when the next one would come. I received hand-written letters telling me he is okay, missing me and requesting items in his next care package. So, yes, technology is good.

But today, technology is bad. (Even though, I am aware of the irony in the fact that I am currently using technology to vent about said technology) When I was first introduced to the concept of taking online courses or even entire online degrees, I thought it was brilliant. You can work on your classes from home, in your own time and around all other commitments and responsibilities. Now, I am convinced it was easier the old way.

You see, when I was in college in the early to mid 1990's and I had to write a paper, I went to the university library. I sat in silence and researched my topic, took notes and wrote my paper. There were not people constantly parading around me requesting food, telling me they scraped their knee, tattling on their mischievous sister, needing help with their shoelaces and otherwise just being needy. My friends were advanced and cool in that they could take care of their own needs and shoelaces. Hmmm.. one can never appreciate their friends enough.

You know what else I didn't have? Internet browser freezes. The equivalent of this, I guess, would have been that all the books spread out before me on the table just suddenly snapped shut and flew off to random corners and floors of the library leaving me with no clue as to where I found that one awesome article on my particular subject of research. Because, you know what? That just happened to me. I had like a gazillion windows opened with various points and information about my topic of research and suddenly, the whole browser decided to freeze. And I could not recover it nor could I even perform a "Force Quit". It was that frozen. So, I was forced to sit and stare ( and let's face it, SEETHE) while it did nothing for what seemed like forever and then finally decided it had no option but to just shut itself down.

So, here I sit, with a half-written paper. No idea exactly which site was the golden site with all the information, no reference information to cite what is already written and no patience to search for it all again at the moment. So, I'm doing what I do best.

I'm using technology to cyber-procrastinate. (Read: Complain and moan to you all)

Now, I'm signing off, slamming my laptop shut, grabbing my abacus and microfiche and I'm going home.

Or maybe to someone else's home.

So, if you hear a knock at your door...