Ried Rants

Technology is a wonderful thing. We can learn about subjects just by logging on to the Internet. We have the ability to converse from a little metal box that was science fiction in 1965. We watch movies in the comfort of our own home and we can get across the country in a matter of hours. Don't even let me get started on the blessing of indoor plumbing.

Somewhere along the line we have forgotten that all these things are a convenience (well the plumbing is more necessary to me). They are there to serve us. Yet we give up our manners, freedom, and some of our sanity every day.  To answer our mobile phone while we are talking to someone face to face.  We get no rest from the onslaught of messages trying to sell us something, make us feel insecure or just plain making fun of others.

Think about it. Do you answer your phone when you are in line at the checkout, in the bathroom or in the middle of a conversation? When did it become okay to be rude and ignore people right in front of you? Is the call so important that you can disconnect from the moment you are in to see who is calling? That is what they made voice mail for.  It is not your fault if no one remembers how to use it anymore. I think it is pathetic to call a number back and say "I got a call from this number.  Did you call me?" If it is important the stranger will leave a message and if it is a friend of yours chances are they will call back or you will have their phone number programmed into your phone and you will know that they called.

People talk while driving their cars and text when they are in a meeting when their attention needs to be focused on what is going on.  This is how important information gets missed.  This is how mistakes and misunderstandings happen. 

What really makes anyone think that they can write and listen, or talk and listen without screwing it up?  Get a grip people you only use 10% of your brain, if you are lucky, so use it wisely and stop trying to overload it when your current capacity for constructive paying attention is so very limited.