Needing to tune out

I think my age is becoming more apparent. A while back I went out and checked Facebook and MySpace, trying to keep up with new technologies. I thought they were dumb. I don’t understand the point… That’s the first time I have thought that about a technology in a while. (Granted, I was a late adopter of cell phones but that’s more about maintaining privacy than resisting technology.) I heard once, a while ago, that the generation gap between my age group and our kids will be the biggest one yet because of technology. And that’s sort of scary given how much technology I have available to me. And how much I find myself wanting to resist it right now.

Do you know that I like to watch letters appear on a computer screen after I strike the keyboard? It’s magical. Action and reaction. I like chatting online with friends who live on other continents. I love emailing friends, making travel arrangements and paying bills all at a computer. I am starting to feel overwhelmed by the convenience of it all.

Many months ago there was an article in Time Magazine that referred to new studies being done about work and technology and efficiency. One study found that when someone instant messages you, outside of the time it takes to do the chatting, you lose five minutes of productivity. This is because you lose your momentum. As someone who has been known to have four or five IM windows open at once, this took my breath away.

I have been a cell phone owner for about three years now. If you stop and think about that number, you’ll realize your grandma probably had a cell before me. I used to be awful with it. I would leave it at home and forget I owned it until I had lots of messages built up. Now I carry it most of the time and struggle to hit “Reject” when calls come in, something I used to do with ease.

To the point… I am feeling bombarded lately, with everything. I feel too accessible. When an IM window pops up on my computer, I feel my shoulders grow tense. And if I ignore it but here there little *beep beep* noise when I get a new message, I get even more frustrated. I start clacking on the keyboard louder and moving my mouse all herky-jerky. When my cell phone rings I am irritated, with the caller, the phone and myself. I haven’t lost patience with email yet. I think that’s only because I can check email on my own time. (I do sometimes get antsy when I see the little windows pop up notifying me of a new message.)

I have been trying to come up with some solution to all of this. So far, my options seems to be to stop using instant messenger, get rid of a cell phone and stick with a land line and stop using email notification services. None of these things are a very big deal. I know this. In my head, I know this. But this voice keeps yelling at me… “If you stop using all those things, you will be rejecting the technology of youth. You will be old!”