We live in a world where the technology available to us means we are all on call 24 hours a day. With laptops, android phones, iPads, and so on, we are always emailing, tweeting, facebooking, texting, calling and whatever other wonderful tasks these gadgets are able to complete.
I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been visiting my folks, sitting at their table drinking a cuppa and then noticed the little red blinking light on the top of my Blackberry. When I pick up my phone to see who has emailed me and why, my Dad always pipes up, ‘Would you leave that thing alone?!’
The thing is, my Dad is from not only a different time, but a different world. He was born and reared in rural Ireland in the 1940’s. This was a world where they lived off the land, a world where there was little to no money and a world where the members of the family didn’t use feather duvets to keep warm in the winter, instead it was bleached flour sacks.
The differences that have taken place in technology since my father was a boy to now are astounding and the world is definitely a better place for the advances however it also means that we see many, many things in different ways.
Like my Dad I’m impatient but in a totally different way. When he asks a question, he wants the answer immediately. When he needs something bought, he wants it to have been purchased yesterday.
I blame my impatience on technology, I am ten times worse than he ever was or will be. When I send an email I expect an instant reply and will often be found checking my phone just in case that flashing red light has stopped working. I’m constantly logging into my various webmail accounts just in case.
When people don’t respond to me immediately I begin getting edgy, but I’m a complete hypocrite. I receive vast numbers of emails every day and I rarely reply to them within a decent time span. In fact, I often don’t reply to emails for days at a time and yet I sit there constantly refreshing my inbox waiting…..impatiently.
My phone is my best friend. Not because it gets my messages to me wherever I may be but because it demands attention. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the prettiest phone in the world but using it to call people instead of emailing them means I have better odds of getting an instant response. I once heard someone describe the phone as being the rudest invention ever created. When your phone rings, it’s basically the person at the other end telling you to stop what you’re doing, no matter how important, and listen to them. Now. This is why I like it.
Does this make me rude, demanding and unreasonable? Or does it just make me the same as everyone else my age? Does this mean that as technology advances more and more, the younger generations will become even more impatient than me? Or is it just me?
So I often find myself wondering, is it genetics or technology that have turned me into this impatient, rude and demanding person?
I don’t suppose revealing the answer will make me change my ways. I suspect I will only get worse and become even more demanding of others whilst I exercise my double standards and leave them waiting longer and longer.
Would removing technology from my life for a day make a difference? Who knows, but I may just try it out and see what happens.
