Alex Harries's diary

(Geek mode on, work mode off...) 

Pretty much everything I do is based around some sort of computer or another, whether it's watching TV (on a temperamental Windows Media Center made from old bootlaces and sellotape, mainly), or keeping up with friends through messenger, or calling them on Skype, or chatting on a web forum, or seeing what they're doing on Facebook (other social networking sites are available... They're just not as good), or checking my e-mails (on an Apple laptop which cost more than my car).

Or I could be in lectures being told to download the lecture notes from a website with a horribly complex URL, or driving somewhere using a sat nav system, while listening to music on my stereo played from my generic MP3 player (ok, it's an iPod - I'm a shameless gadget freak...).

... Or even using my mobile phone (which uses my broadband connection instead of the mobile network when I'm at home, and synchronises my appointments and contacts with my computer using Bluetooth), or even when I'm in the bathroom... Ok, maybe not in there...

Hell, I even DJ with a computer (not very well though...).

So it's quite hard sometimes to get my head around how some people can go through so much of their lives without using a computer at all - actually by *talking* to each other, or going out *socialising* (whassat then?).

And what's odd is that both sides would probably argue vociferously that *their* particular balance is the best, at least for them. So why do gadget-obsessed, technology lovers become the way they are? And why do some people see no point at all in spending more time than is absolutely necessary on a computer?

Hell, we can even do everything apart from the physical side of a relationship over a computer, thanks to dating websites... But even I can see the arguments against that one, at least once you're past the initial "Hi, I'm Bob" "Hi, I'm Brenda. Nice picture..." part.

To continue this stream of consciousness would only be to reinvent the wheel as far as debating the benefits and drawbacks, ethics and implications of a technologically-driven life over a more organic, even traditional one; it's just something I wonder about from time to time.

In other words, the question here is, "should I get out more?".

Somehow, I suspect the answer might be a resounding "Yes"... ;o) /al