Techno-what?

I've always thought of myself not so much as a technophobe, but as someone who didn't really need or want a lot of technological things. I much prefer the TV off, phone off, cozied up with a good book kind of day than one spent with 200 channels, four cell phones, three laptops, and a video game system kind of day. Sure, these things come in handy, but I could take them or leave them.

Then yesterday, I realized what I was doing: Sitting on the couch, using my Blackberry to read an article listing the "best of" from the CES show in Las Vegas last week and telling my husband all about the cool things I wanted!

Wow. I was amazed at myself! Granted, I've been immersed in this world for 10 or 11 years now with my husband's job, but I even surprised him this time. Usually he is telling me all about the CES show (their company usually attends) and I'm trying to follow what he says with a glazed-over expression on my face.

I was thinking even more, though, about how our lives have been forever changed by technology in the past decade. In 2000, we were buying CDs in stores, sending some email but lots of letters still, using a land line with an answering machine (cell phones were a luxury and actually turned off at times!), and using paper maps to find our way when lost away from home.

Now, we are in the age of Facebook and Twitter, satellite radio, and GPS. More and more homes have no land line (remember when it was the "poor folks" who had no home phone?) but rely on cell phones. We have Blackberries, iPhones, and the new Droid things. And - music sales are no longer tracked with CD sales but iTunes downloads. Even my 93 year old grandmother has email access now!

So, is all this stuff good or bad? Eh, I am not getting into all that. I am just enjoying getting to know long distance family members on Facebook, new friends on Twitter, and playing with the cool toys =)