San giovanni bassista, il santo protettore dei bassisti

“No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until ‘justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

“I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”
– Martin Luther King Jr

Technology gadgets are all around us. As I’m writing this, I have two laptops in front of me (Mac and PC), a PC desktop on the far right of them, and an iPad to the left. I have a Droid phone in my pocket, and an iPod docked in an audio player. That’s only several of the electronic/digital devices in my household, and I know I am not alone.

Sure, I can justify it by saying that I need these gadgets for work purposes, but if I’m really honest with myself, I know I can do with much less. One good thing that happened this past year (which I credit all to my wife) was after I purchased an iPad, I returned it because other then reading books… I couldn’t justify the purchase based on any production value. I fought my wife on it… but she was right, and so I returned it. Then, later in the year I happened to be working on a project that required iPad functionality, so the company I work for bought me one. Darn.

The thing about gadget envy, is defining the purpose of the gadget. Do I want it simply because it’s cool and gives me worth? or is it a means to a goal? Is it a matter of having the latest and best, therefore a step above the rest, or am I really using it for productivity? of course not all gadgets need to be productive, they can be for entertainment or gaming… but again, the focus here is on ‘the desire. And here’s the problem, I can always find a way to justify the latter if I tried hard enough. I can always fool myself into thinking I need it.

This post doesn’t end with me giving examples of how to conquer the technology idol. I know I fall victim to this all the time. I do think its healthy to have ‘unplugged’ days… works well for me when vacationing, but harder to do when I’m at home. This requires turning off anything digital… cell phones, email, laptops, etc…

As with many idols… technology gadgets are not evil, they are incredibly appealing for us in society. It’s our desire for them that elevates them to a higher status. If you must have them to be satisfied… you will discover that you never really are satisfied because the next gadget is just around the corner, and yours is beginning to look a lot less useful.