I didn’t get a DVD player until 2005, and I didn’t buy it. It was a gift from my coworkers; I was laid up at home for weeks following surgery, and one morning the doorbell rang—it was the UPS guy. Inside the box was a get-well card and a DVD player. I started laughing because I knew exactly who’d suggested it as a gift and why. For years I’d gotten grief from my friends about my lack of gadgetry. They couldn’t believe that I didn’t have a DVD player. I don’t need one, I’d tell them. And I didn’t. If I wanted to see a movie, I’d go to the theater or rent a video (I did have a VCR). And even though I now had a shiny new DVD player, I’m embarrassed to admit it sat in the box for nearly two years.
The truth is, I probably would’ve never hooked it up if videos hadn’t become obsolete. My VCR had been serving me well, thank you very much. Then suddenly you couldn’t find a new release on video to save your life. It reminded me of when albums and cassettes gave way to CDs.
I suppose that’s how I define my relationship with all things tech: giving in. When I can no longer use what I’ve been using, that’s when I upgrade. For me, having the latest and greatest, the coolest and hottest, the most bells, whistles and flashing lights was never that important. In many ways technology makes me feel disconnected—from people, from places, from myself. Today so many people sit in front of a computer screen and “connect” via Facebook, Twitter and whatever the next big new thing in social media will be, but to me that’s not real human connection. I’d rather pick up the phone and talk. Or actually get together in person, but that seems like such an alien concept these days.
Don’t get me wrong, I think social media can be fun. I just don’t think it’s a must. In fact, I feel that way about a lot of tech things, like microwaves (don’t own one), camera phones (my cell phone is strictly no-frills), TiVo (if I miss a show, oh well), iPods (my portable CD player works just fine). To me, none of these items is absolutely necessary, and I’ve gotten along all these years without any of them. The simpler my life is, the better.
Two things that are musts, though, are my computer and the Internet—both at home and at work. I’m constantly online doing research, blogging, catching up on the day’s news, checking out cool sites. And every article I write and edit is done via computer. My life’s work is the written word, and as the publishing industry continues to become more digital I’ll happily be right there, every step of the way. But I can’t say the same for the leisure time I spend with words.
Someone recently asked me if I owned an e-reader, given my love of books (I have hundreds of hardcovers at home). I told her no, I don’t have one and I don’t plan to buy one. “Why?” she asked, “I thought you loved books.” Yes, I do, and that’s exactly why I won’t be buying an e-reader. I love the feel of a new book, the smell of it, the experience of curling up on the couch with it, unfolding the dog-ear of the page where I left off, bending the spine back a bit more than I should and settling in for a good read. I simply can’t do that with a piece of machinery.
So I’ll continue to live my low-tech life, no matter how many jokes my friends crack and how shocked people are when I tell them that I don’t have a digital camera. I’m sure I’ll eventually own all this techy stuff one day, when the things I have now become dinosaurs (as they will). That may appear to put me behind the curve, but it’s OK. I know what’s hot and new; I simply choose not to have it.
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