Technology and Happiness

Well, when you're old(ish), you get some perspective on things. Like technology. Digital tech is everything these days, which makes it tempting to go into full backlash mode, as in the bumper sticker I saw that said The Internet Makes You Stupid. I suppose one could extend that to say Your Smart Phone Makes You Stupid. Or perhaps the better phrase would be, Developmentally Disabled.

But I come here not to bury, but to praise -- sort of. I keep a running short list in my mind of the things that new technology has really helped. These include:
  • Being able to use your mobile phone to notify people when you are running late. In the olden days, someone wouldn't show and you would sit around wondering what was up, and then sit around some more, before saying the hell with it, I'm going.
  • DMV. This is a big one. The go-to caricature of institutional and bureaucratic inefficiency has always been the Department of Motor Vehicles, a modern Circle of Hell. But I have to say, I've been in and out of the DMV pretty darn quick my last couple of visits. First of all, you can view average wait times on line before you go, and then when you get there, they use tech to sort everyone by the the type of service needed. The new institutional hell is probably automated phone "customer service." I tried to call Florida Power and Light yesterday and could not get a person. Period.
  • EZ Pass. The tearing down of toll booths in the Northeast and elsewhere is an unmitigated blessing. Far less often -- indeed almost ever -- do you hear now that "the Mass Pike is a parking lot."
  • IRS. We get our tax refunds direct deposited in our account within ten days of submitting. Ten days! I suppose the aforementioned "live human being" phone problem probably applies here too, though.
I could go on. Having your entire music collection on your phone is amazing. Or if you Spotify, access to an unlimited amount of music right there in your pocket. Let's see, I love my Kindle. No more lugging massive books when traveling.

The thing is, none of these things make life itself any better. I would not trade my life in the pre-digital days for my life now. I am not happier now than I was then. Or maybe I am happier, but if so, that has nothing at all to do with technology. Granted, there are more substantial technological innovations, for example in medicine. And while I am grateful for these things, and would not turn down lifesaving or health-enhancing medical intervention, nor begrudge it for others, I don't think medical advances have made people any happier on the whole. One must always find happiness whatever the circumstances in which one finds oneself.

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