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...
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I'd love to hear from you...
What would we do without Spell Check and Smart Phones?
Lane,
I thought I was the only one that felt impaired by technology. I am the worst with phone numbers and only know numbers for a select few people who I have known for a very long time (pre-technology). For anyone else the number is either stored electronically or easily accessible to be looked up.
As far as a GPS, I don't want one. I will use mapquest for directions but prefer a trusty old map as well. I figure as long as I know which direction I need to go I'll be ok.
Michelle
I still like to do math with a piece of paper and a pencil. Granted an excel spreadsheet is faster but I don't want to wake up one day and not be able to remember how to do something I learned in the 3rd grade.
Lane, the phone number memory deficit is most noticeable when my phone runs out of batteries and I have to run to my computer to look up the number of the person who just got cut off. LOL
Hi Lane, Absolutely! In so many ways... I tend not to use spell check and also try to do math calculations in my head or by hand to stem the decline. But telephone numbers are another matter - you're right - I barely remember my family's numbers.
The spell check created problems kill me - I finally realized that spell check is one of the main causes for the misuse of the apostrophe since it doesn't recognize some plurals and is happy with an apostrophe. Yeegads.
Liz
Lane
How true, who in the heck is driving the bus?
Sincerely
Tom Braatz
I grew up without calculators in a class room, so I am astounded by all the people that cannot do basic math without one. That would probably fit your techno-disenabled term :-)
How come I already knew that, even though you have one of the cutest little boys I've ever seen, you were bu
ll-headed?
I haven't sucumbed to the GPS yet but am baffled by the fact that I know the first phone number I had as a child but just like you would be hard pressed to tell you the phone number of my best friend who I talk to frequently.
Nothing worse than using GPS and your ready to make a turn and the display turns off due to low battery.
Thanks
Tony
Lane - You are so right about this. I've noticed that a lot of younger people cannot add without a calculator.
Sharon - There are days that I would sound stupid and not be able to get in touch with anyone...
Michelle - I had Mapquest give me bad directions in NYC. I would have loved to have had a GPS as I was driving through the Bronx in an F-350 with 3000 pounds of 4wd stuff in the back of my truck.
Denise - I do simple math in my head... pretty fast. But, knowing HOW to write out a formula in a spreadsheet is pretty good.
Maria - There are days I might have to run to the charge to figure out WHO I was talking with .
Liz - Spell check is a defective tool. It is only good to help find some mistakes... you still have to have an idea of what you are writing.
Tom - I think my phone is driving the bus.
Kris - In high school I had a programable calculator. My pre-calc teacher used to let us use them... but we had to pull the batteries at the beginning of class and put them back in. Basically his point was that if we could program them we knew how to do the work...
Susie - Me? Bullheaded? ok.
Cindy - GPS is fun... I like watching the map move. I'm nlike a giant three year old.
Tony - It is a tool... you have to know what is going on anyway...
Larry - I don't know that it is generational. The oldsters are perfectly willing to let the technology do the work.