The Age of Spiritual Machines

It's no secret that I harbor a deep and startlingly dark antipathy toward many modern forms of technology. (Yet hypocrite that I am, I quite enthusiastically make good use of them anyway.)

It's no secret that my cell phone lies gathering dust on my bedside table and any incoming calls go unanswered and most messages unread and ignored. I'm not even going to lie and say I appreciate the thought behind these things. I really don't. *Sigh* I'm sorry but there it is my friends.

It's no secret that I kind of loath, (yet still like a very teensy bit), Facebook.

You see, deep down where it matters, I'm really rather old fashioned. I like heart to heart conversations in cafes or pubs over steaming cups of hot chocolate or coffee. I like sitting on the couch, pillows piled up high and laughing with my friends over something ridiculous. I like long walks with people I love in any sort of weather where the secrets and feelings just spill out of hearts and mouths and into the warm, frosty, biting, clear, sparkling air all around us. I like stacks of exciting mail and piles of letters decorated with colorful stickers. Letters that are meant just for me. I like writing in such a way that makes it seem I am practicing creating a personal ad. No, just kidding, I'm happily married.

I've heard so many times that all this technology just makes communication easier and of course, in so many ways it does. It can unite, it can bring people together, it can introduce friends and lovers, it can give a sense of community that is perhaps lacking in real life. (In my case it's lovely to have daily contact with my family who are worlds away.) But the flip side to this is that it can also make communication cheap and careless, devoid of discretion.

(If interested, further rantings can be found here: All These Flying Supermen).

So while I will probably never get around to using my cell phone, except to send the occasional blank message to an unknown number when I press a button accidentally (apologies to anyone who has been on the receiving end), and while I will probably never totally abandon Facebook though I do so try...and sadly for anyone reading, I may even decide to rant hypocritically about this topic again from time to time...

I still really, really like you! Ok? Don't imagine otherwise. I'm just hopeless at technology and thus have decided to make it my enemy and go back to the days of pen and ink and fun, cheery letters in the mail. Anyone who wants one, you need only send me your address. :)

Love, C.

P.S. Do you know yet not to take me too seriously? I hope so. I do hope so.