Techno Rant

On our way to LAX to catch our flight to Calgary for the holidays, I spotted an “LA Story”-style freeway sign from the backseat of the towncar as we were making our way up the 91 freeway. It said “No text messages while driving after Jan 1st.” I remarked to Special K that just a decade (or less) ago, that sign would have made no sense. “Text messages”? What does THAT mean?

Although I was pretty sure that my comment was only really made loud enough for Special K to hear, our driver, Ken, piped up from behind the wheel and said, “It makes no sense NOW!”

Special K and I looked at each other, unsure of what the appropriate response should be.

But before either of us could respond, Ken launched into a tirade that began with “Why can’t you just CALL someone if you have something to say?? If it’s important enough to TELL someone about, then just pick up the phone and SAY it. I just don’t get it – it’s ridiculous!!”

I thought better of trying to engage Ken in a meaningful conversation about the different layers and levels of communication that exist within our society today, based on the wide variety of technological help we now have access to on a mass scale. But I figured my detailed and thoughtful conjecture on the nuances of phone calls versus emails versus text messages versus IM would cause him to burst a blood vessel just thinking about it.

But even without my encouragement, Ken was on a roll. Phase 2 of the rant went like this:

“It took me FOREVER to figure out this YouTube thing. I kept thinking that people were talking about U2, and I’d think to myself, I know they’re a good band, but why is EVERYONE talking about them?? This must be one helluva new music video they’ve got out. THEN I figure out it’s YouTube and not U2. Does anyone even USE YouTube?? I mean, what could the point of it be??”

From our captive spots in the back seat, Special K and I nodded, laughed and said “Right” at all of the appropriate places and then Ken said, “And what’s that new one now that everyone is talking about?”

Before I could elbow him to not respond, Special K answers, “Twitter?”

“YES! Twitter! Now what is the deal with THAT?? I don’t get it at all.”
Ken proceeded to rant about micro-blogging and the like while I pulled out my iPhone and pondered via Twitter whether Ken even owned an answering machine in the year 2008.