iPhone the tempter

My Mom got herself "the gadget" last spring.  She loves to stay current with the latest technology, even if it is completely out of date by the time she figures out how to use it.  I had no interest in iPhones until I got to play with hers.  I don't really like talking on the phone, I prefer face to face conversations.  I got my daughters an iTouch to share for their birthdays last year.  Really, I wanted to be able to listen to Pandora on something other than my computer speakers, so I had ulterior motives.  Then my friend Heather got an iPhone for Christmas.  She kept telling me how great the calendar, was.  The temptations just kept growing.

For my anniversary my Mom and my husband got me an iPhone 4.  It is slick.  It is easy to use.  It is way too seductive.  I can keep all my planner information in it.  It lets me update facebook with a picture that I can take with the phone.  It has replaced my camera, phone, planner, recipe organizer, and computer all in one gadget.  I can tell you that if someone swipes it I will be lost for several days.  It has everything in it.  I have used it several times on this little trip to Seattle to keep myself from wandering unfamiliar streets in the middle of the night, and day.  On the one hand it is the greatest gadget on the planet.

On the other hand, I feel like Frodo with the ring.  There it is blinging at me 10 minutes before every item in my calendar.  I woke up a few days ago to it beeping whenever anyone updated facebook.  It calls to me, literally, to stare at it's amazing little screen.  I feel like I am becoming its slave.  One friend described it as an external brain.  While I could definitely use on of those, I just wonder what it is doing to my soul.  Do I need to know every time someone has sent me an email?  Do I have to answer every tone?  Do I answer every tone from my children?  Do I stare lovingly at their little faces as often as I stare at the screen?  What would become of me if I turned it off and left it for three days?

I don't want to become someone who only communicates in three word semi-sentences.  I love to have conversations face to face.  I prefer to see the other person's eyes when I am talking to them.  There are times when all I really need to say, is "yes, I will be there at 4."  But I want most of my talking to be to a real person.  Sometimes I wonder about this blog.  I'm sure there are people out there who feel like they know me, when we have never actually met.  I am sort of worried about what they think I am like.  This blog is such a small peek into my life.  I want it to be a peek that my kids might not get otherwise, or that I might forget about.  This is a very one way communication device, and I really love interaction.  I learn so much more from listening to others.  I guess that is why I read other people's blogs.  They are great beginnings of conversations, that never actually happen.  It is sort of sad really.

Technology, where is it taking us?  I know there are books written on the topic, but I'm not sure I want to read them.  I like books that don't talk much about technology at all.  In my overreaction I often want to unplug it all and move to some remote place, like my hometown.  I just hope that I will not let this little apple in my pocket, become my undoing.  Several friends had a great time with references to apples and temptation when I was contemplating whether or not I should get one.  It was very funny, and really too true.  Apple has created a very powerful little idol, I just hope I can keep my power over it and not let it overpower me.