I’m drawn to shiny objects, often stoves and knives, as much as the next guy. And that’s precisely the reason why I watched this video about a cool looking little alcohol stove. But if you watch the video, you’ll soon discover that it’s NOT something to rely on for your survival:
As the guy says, it’s overly engineering, not well-built (some screws were coming undone right out of the box), and the stove doesn’t work nearly as well as simpler alcohol stoves. It’s just a mess!
I can’t help but see parallels in our modern lives. Take the Windows computer platform that I use or the macOC and Apple computer that my father-in-law has used for years (or Android and iPhones if you prefer). They’re becoming so darn complicated that none of us can figure out anything on our own anymore. As soon as I encounter a problem, for instance, I’m online searching for an answer. Even my father-in-law, who used to program computers when he was employed, comes to me for answers when his Apple computer doesn’t work right … and I don’t know a thing about them!
My wife can’t figure out how to use my Android phone; I can’t figure out her iPhone. And nobody over the age of 25 really knows how to work the smart TV. Thankfully, my youngest kid, who’s 19, lives with us or we’d still be trying to figure out how to get the television to work with our Bluetooth speakers on movie night. 🙂
Cars are getting ridiculously complicated. Do I really need a satellite overview when I park? I don’t have a car that fancy, but some people do. Honestly, it took me until last year to accept that the backup camera on our car was telling me the truth, lol.
And don’t get me started on appliances. I don’t know what I’m going to do if our dishwasher or refrigerator ever kicks the bucket because I sure as hell don’t want them connecting to the internet and telling Bezos or Zuckerberg all my dirty little secrets, but my guess is that’s where we’re headed, like it or not. (Of course, everything else is spying on me, so it’s already too late.)
Perhaps I’m getting old, but does everything have to be “improved” in the name of progress? I mean, does my toaster truly need wi-fi to burn my bread? (Yes, there really is a toaster that connects to wi-fi and there’s absolutely no good reason for it.) Connectivity is everywhere know. I know why they do it, because they want to charge you more up-front, probably charge a subscription fee, add more because more is always better, and (dare I say) track everything you do. It’s just silly.
When is enough enough?
When can we get back to the basics? Maybe try a simpler life? That’s part of the reason why we moved further away from people, got a bit of land, try to garden, and why my wife likes to spend too much money to get away on a vacation from time to time. There’s something we’re missing as a human species, but I’m positive it’s not more shit, more apps, more features, more screentime, and more tracking in the name of convenience.
Now I can see that I’m on a rant, so I’ll stop. But I will say this: if we’re not careful, we’re going to lose sight of what it means to be human. After all, the older I get, the more I realize that being human is a short-lived experience, and that all of these technological conveniences are really just time-sucking energy-drains. In our never-ending need for more/bigger/faster/better, we’re going to miss the entire point. And by then it will have been too late.
Now, can somebody get my smart tv to work so I can spend hours trying to find something interesting to watch?
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