Technology... Friend or Foe?

Time again for another insightful entry for the blogoshpere. One of my online discussion groups was pondering the question of what life was like 50-100 years ago and whether or not any one of us could have “handled” it. As I sit here in the local Chick-Fil-A and my oldest two play on the playland, I’m stuffing my face with waffle fries dipped in a combination of buffalo and Polynesian sauces. I have time to do this because I’m totally neglecting my house.

My floors are gritty and should probably stand to be hand scrubbed, but they’ll have to make do with a half-ass swiffering. I’ve got mounds of laundry that need doing AND last week’s is still not completely put away. My kitchen is not in “great” shape but it isn’t filthy. We won’t even go into the wreck that is the children’s room. Let’s just say that if Santa’s workshop suddenly exploded it would be *close*.

So, how IS life different from 50-100 years ago? Well, for ONE thing… 100 years ago, I wouldn’t be taking my kids out for a fast-food lunch – no such thing existed. But more than that, there was a totally different mind-set (paradigm if you will) in place. Now, our society (hereinafter known as “we” and/or “us”) has STUFF. Lots of it, too. We buy bigger houses to hold our stuff. And we just keep collecting MORE and MORE of it. To the point that a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house is called a “starter” home. Which puts our 2BR/1BA house to shame. I KNOW we have more stuff than our house can hold. And friends, that’s AFTER I “Fling Boogied” 27 tons of stuff out.

Another difference is that we have more “disposable” income than previous generations. We also have more debt. See THIS for more details on that. Admittedly, I’m no anthropologist, but this is just my observation. Did we have it “better” 50-100 years ago?

Yes and No. There are so many differences and so on that it would take a very long time to cover them in detail and this is but a mere blog, so I don’t expect to cover every aspect of them in depth.

However, I’m going to issue a challenge to you – dear reader – and believe me, it IS a challenge indeed.

1) Turn off technology as much as possible. Make a pledge that you will not leave your TV, radio or computer on all day. Many times we keep these things on to drown out the “sound of silence”. But really, we all need some quiet time during the day. Also, having too many things on at once is overstimulating and can cause the noise levels to be artificially too loud.
2) Get out of debt and STAY that way. There’s a process for this called the Total Money Makeover. Dave Ramsey wrote a book by the same name and it’s GOOD. While I don’t agree with ALL his points, the main thing is to get out of debt and stay that way.
3) Don’t buy things you don’t absolutely need. I mean it! Look around and ask yourself the following:
a. Does this item bring me joy/peace? If the answer is NO then TOSS IT!!!
b. Does this item get used more than once in a blue moon? Again, if the answer is NO then TOSS IT!!!
c. Do I have more than one of this item? If the answer is YES, keep only the best one and donate or toss the other(s).

If you absolutely MUST buy something, make sure you remove ONE thing from your home before bringing in the new one.

I told you this was a challenge. I will say this, though, these principles changed my life incredibly. I believe these 3 points are the major differences in mindset between our generation and our corollary of 50-100 years ago.

Our parents’ generation saw the birth of TV. Now, 99% of all homes have a color tv and those TVs are on (on average) over 8 hours a day. Microsoft recently reported 3 millions units of the Xbox 360 have been sold/shipped. That’s fully 1% of the population of this country. I’m no demographic expert, but that’s close to 25% of the nation’s households if not more. That number does not count the previous Xbox units still in use. What it does say, though, is that we are a WEALTHY nation.

Compare that to one of the other nations in the top 4 most populated countries in the world. Indonesia is number four (just behind the US) and the standard of living there is remarkably different than our standard of living. In some ways it is like America 100 years ago. Laundry is washed by hand, line dried and ironed with an iron that is heated on the stove. This is in an upper-middle class home, too! Even if they can afford an automatic washer/dryer, they aren’t trusted to get clothes “as clean” as they would be if they were washed on a washboard. I was told it was a “waste of electricity”. What a different POV than here, eh?

Oh give me a home...

I’ve an interesting update to give. I may be long-winded here and I apologize. I’ve been multi-tasking and so I’ve not spent as much time at my desk as I should to get my thoughts out. I’m thinking I need a “sidekick” or something so I can log my thoughts while I’m on the go.

First off, I’ve really discovered the joy of turning off the A/C and heat and just running the fans as necessary. Our house is no where NEAR as “stinky” as it was before and we aren’t getting sick as much either. I firmly believe that there is a correlation between inside air being laden with nastiness and it getting trapped and making people sick. When our house is roughly the same temperature inside as out, we don’t feel the extremes of heat or cold as much. So out with the old and in with the new (air).

Another thing I’ve been noticing is that my patience with rude and impatient people is lessening. I know that’s probably quite ironic all things considered. But really. I have three small children who are all in car seats. Is it that difficult to wait for me to get them safely buckled in before you begin to honk your horn at me to move my ass? I really DO try to clip them as quickly as possible because *I* don’t want to stand out in the hot sun any more than you want to wait for a parking space.

And what is it with people who drive inconsiderately? Is the interstate their own private road? If so, then why am I paying taxes to maintain it? Seriously folks, the SPEED LIMIT is there for a reason. I’ve got no beef with going 5mph over the posted limit. That’s not egregious. But to lay on the horn when someone IS driving 5 over and YOU are doing 25 over is just plain silly. Slow down moron. Makes me wonder where the Highway Patrol is when you “need” them.

I’m so fed up with cars and gas prices and car seats and all the paraphernalia that goes along with cars, I’m this | | close to getting a horse and buggy. Seriously. Except for a few minor details like housing and feeding a horse and parking him when we go shopping and stuff… You know – the little stuff. But at least it wouldn’t cost me $40,000 to seat 7 passengers. I wonder if Honda makes a 7 Passenger Buckboard and what model horse comes with it.