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| Ann Margret took notes with a pen. |
It’s been some time since my last anti-technology rant so I feel I’m overdue.
In addition, I just read an article in the Wall Street
Journal that prompted a lengthy diatribe which, fortunately or unfortunately,
was heard only by the cats (who barely glanced up from their ipads).
Written by
a millennial (millennials are an amalgam of two factions -- Generations X and Y
– who, with their artisanal mustard and microbrews, are very similar but X-ers can vaguely recall a world less electronically connected while the younger Y-kids are too young to remember anything a time when you actually had to use your brain to think)…it was about the taking of notes in a classroom setting
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| Forget notes. No one is learning because they're all on Facebook. |
It appears millennials of both variety have discovered they comprehend and retain more information when taking notes the “old-fashioned way.” By this, I mean the
use of those clunky and pre-historic tools remembered by some as pen and paper.
Ha. No, I really mean that—HA! Maybe mom and dad, with our supermarket condiments and
cans of Bud from the gas station cooler, might not be such imbeciles after all.
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| You are so right, Ned! |
Unfortunately, the article goes on to explain that new “tablets”
have been designed that are almost as thin and “flexible” as—guess what?! --PAPER!!!
HA again! And, with these conceptually amazing and ground-breaking devices, you
can purchase an electronic implement suspiciously similar to a “pen” for a mere
hundred bucks or so. Personally, I prefer my pens from the dollar store.
Tom, my older son (very tech-savvy, yet the more likely of
my boys to run off and live in a hollow tree), read the article at my behest
only to inform me that these so called “pens” retain your written notes as
would a computer. After shouting and windmilling my arms for a bit about how this is nothing but evil sorcery, he placed me in a headlock until I accepted this
madness as fact.
Upon release, and when my breathing finally returned to
normal, I countered with the personal knowledge that it is possible to “save” hand-written
notes in something known as a file folder which, barring an explosion in your basement artisanal pickle lab, will
outlast anything with a computer chip, withstand power surges and be referenced
by later generations just as I utilize my great aunt’s recipes from carefully
stored index cards written neatly in ink over a half-century ago.
Tell that to
your stupid little electronic pen that you accidentally dropped in the toilet.
This leads directly to another article in the (non-web
version) of the same newspaper about how millennials are also starting to
install land lines in their homes because -- wait for it -- they are more reliable.
They blame poor connections, annoyance with the need to
constantly monitor re-charging needs, dropped calls and the frustration of
locating a dead phone. Again-Ha!! Seth and I have kept our trusty landline for
those same reasons. And, while I fully acknowledge the many advantages
(Pinterest on the go!) of owning a cell-phone, my land line is an old friend.
I
even make sure there’s a corded version in the house: easily found in an
emergency, less likely to give me brain cancer and often needed to call Seth’s number
to locate the smart phone that’s slipped between the couch cushions.
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| Who didn't have one of these in their kitchens? |
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| The "Slimline." What a concept! |
I’m not advocating one of those no-frills wall phones we all
had that came in several colors with a dial and a long, tangled cord or the
pretty pink princess phone I coveted as a teen (never got one) or even the
comparatively new-fangled “slim-line” from the 70’s that blew our minds by
having the dial in the handset.
Get something modern and sleek with all the
fancy features you want! As a side bonus, you can slam the receiver down in
fury at anyone who’s pissed you off or wants to clean your chimney. Angrily
jabbing at a screen is a poor substitute for a good slam.
Is,
as I’ve heard it said, everything old, new again? Nah….and, in many instances,
that’s a good thing. Even we fossils acknowledge that technology has made life easier,
safer and opened doors for medicine, science and the vital transmission of
information. But try picking up a pen and giving your handwriting a new lease
on life. Make that call on a land line for a clear and uninterrupted chat and
then discuss, over a frosty mug of barley wine and lentil chips, how some
old things are worth keeping around.
And, kids-you might even want to try one
of those fancy erasable pens for your note-taking…now that’s technology
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| My preference for a landline. |
