technologie domine

Spent much of today upgrading to a new cell phone. The LG enV2 to be exact. Lots of bells and whistles. Very fancy, very sleek. Have decided to ditch my land line.

Spent much of the last week staring at computer screens, playing with spreadsheets and Word documents and sophisticated business accounting and budgeting software. (And watching the Daily Show on hulu.com during the occasional break.)

Recently bought a new stereo featuring an iPod dock and missing a tape deck or record player.

Blogs and facebook and renewable energy.

Semi-disposable owner-assembled Swedish furniture.

China's lunar program. Pakistan's nukes.

Hybrid vehicles.

Somewhere, a dog barked.

I'm noticing technology's steady forward march and glowing expansion into every corner of our lives, and I'm not quite sure what to make of it. I think it's on balance a good thing? I'm relatively young but have already seen a lot of technological change in my lifetime, and it seems to be accelerating. The modern conveniences and tools and systems can be quite useful, sometimes even breathtaking (when they're not outright frustrating or terribly worrisome). But they also seem to be encouraging a gradual creep away from the older and simpler things: pen and paper, board games, dusty photo albums, newspapers, hands dirty from digging, face-to-face conversations with strangers, a walk in the park without earbuds or Blackberries.

I suppose it's an evolution of sorts, but am still trying to figure out to what end. Expanded comfort and convenience, greater knowledge, enhanced communication capacity. A brave new world. Leaving our former selves (the good and the bad) behind. Does the soul evolve as well?

This Christmas, I got two watches: one for business and "dressy" occasions; one for sports and outdoor use. The sports watch is digital with various stopwatch features, alarms, indiglo, velcro band, etc. (and inexpensive, having been mass produced in China). The business one is a very simple Swiss Army classic design... just a round face, rotating hr/min/sec hands, and a date (today's says simply "31"). It has a mechanical crown for making adjustments. It seems pretty sturdy. It's a watch, and it tells me what time it is.

I like them both, but I'm increasingly drawn to the Swiss watch. On a very strange, subtle, subconscious level, I feel like it's reminding me to stay grounded, and remember where I came from.