I meant to say it exactly like that... I think I made up a new word...
Techno-disenabled - A situation that occurs when technology performs a function that we used to be able to perform... and because the technology now performs the function, we are unable to do it ourselves.
I was thinking today as I was using my GPS to get around a blocked up highway (apparently there was a car fire...) that I used to be perfectly capable of re-routing myself... a week with a navigation system, and I need to turn it on to go to the store...
And then I started thinking about the phone. I used to remember at least a hundred telephone numbers. My friends would call me because it was easier than looking elsewhere. Now, I have an address book in my phone. I can't remember any of the 4 numbers for my best friend...
In both cases, I began to use technology and lost or lessened my ability to do the tasks I employed the technology for. However, in both cases I seriously upgraded my capabilities. Instead of remembering a hundred phone numbers, my phone remembers 500 for me. Instead of knowing a bunch of different routes in a small area or in a group of areas, I now have access to fairly accurate mapping almost anywhere.
So, I am enabled and disabled by the same technology.
Of course, there is another technology that isn't operating the same way... at least for me. But for many people, spelling has become an annoyance. Spellcheck has removed the requirement that people pay attention to their spelling. They have a "backstop" that is going to catch most of the mistakes. For me, I try to beat the spellcheck and see if I can get a clean report.
But (wandering off on a tangent here) I see a lot more misused words than I used to. Because the spellcheck will catch it, people have stopped checking themselves. But, there are still those write v right, would v wood, sale v sell issues that the spellcheck won't catch.
Honestly, the GPS hasn't fully disabled me yet. I constantly find myself driving a different route because I think it is faster. I'm hard-headed that way...
