Technologically advanced

The following is a paid advertisement from the vault of opinions.


We, as a people, are getting too technologically savvy, far too advanced for any positive thinking or own good. I'm not saying this because I have all the new tech toys out there (I don't- my sources of music come from wax, Cd's and the radio. No mp3 player here. My pictures come courtesy of a crap quality cell phone or rolls of film, Not a true digital camera); but because the general public is becoming too self reliant on machines that must be upgraded or voided after 6 months because there's some sort of coding that changed what button to use for the volume.

There is an advert that popped up on my homepage for a well known clothing store. What was the deal of the day? Hoodies with ear buds stitched in, and a plug-in for your iPod, right in the front pocket. I mean, come on! Are we that needy, that our clothes must now have some sort of fandangled plugs for music? Where the hell are you going, that you need a constant stream of music permanently attached to your clothes? Humans these days already have the ear buds hanging from their ears, with the device in some sort of pocket. Now, with the advent of this sweatshirt, they don't have to worry about anything but making sure the player has enough juice, and throwing the plug into the headphone jack and the hoodie on! And you can do all this for the low, machine washable, price of $15 (regularly $29.50)! Not only can you have an assortment of colours, the stipulation is, it might not be compatible with your device. So go choose your colour, spend the money, put it on, and walk out the store to find out your first generation iPod don't work with this shirt. Go return it, because you obviously don't need it that badly.

I remember growing up, that owning a tape player or a Walkman was a privilege and not everyone could afford it. Then, when prices became reasonable, more kids got different players. Portable CD players came along, then somehow, things jumped to MP3 players and iPods. I don't know how because I didn't follow the trend. I'm not that interested. Then again, I had a tape player with tapes up until this summer. I'd rather the tape player or a radio over some little device that can fit in the palm of my hand, because in some cases, the music is better. I'm not saying the quality is more precise - let's leave that discussion to vinyl records verses MP3s (vinyls all the way), but there's just something about a reel of tape that makes everything seem so good and welcoming. Yes, it's clunky, but that's the nature of the beast. Digital is not always the way to go. Sure, it's a means to documenting and saving things. It can make an invaluable source out of what ever is in front of you, but without those first recordings of the late 1890s, we'd not have what we're listening to today.

Give me back the reels, the tape decks, the vinyls... I'll give you some slammin' jams.


Cheers,