But I still love technology

Ed, congrats on your Twitter account.  I will be the first to admit that although I have been dubbed the “tech savvy” one in the family, Twitter is something that I’ve chosen to ignore from the beginning.  For some reason, Twitter has irritated me, probably in the same way that Facebook has managed to work its way under Brad’s skin.  I’m so tired of hearing a Twitter reference in every news story in existence today.  Twitter was invented for lazy journalists.  And no offense Ed, but I don’t think that there’s anyone that I feel like I want to follow every second of every day. 

Here’s the thing about technology – it’s supposed to help.  People can let technology run their lives, when technology is supposed to work for them.  For those of us on Facebook, we all know people who make it their whole lives.  They “check in” every time they move more than 25 feet, they post every random thought that pops into their mind, they post a picture of everything that they eat, and they generally just live their entire life as a slave to the FB.  It’s irritating.  FB doesn’t have to be that way.  I spend a lot of time on FB, but I’m not a slave to it.  If it disappeared tomorrow I would be totally fine.  So in general, if the technology doesn’t enrich your life, and actually becomes a chore, then it’s time to get rid of it.  I don’t care how “advanced” it is, if it doesn’t help, then – well, it doesn’t help!

Although I admire older people who try to stay on top of new technology, it can be a wee bit trying when you get tagged as tech support.  I know Mom is going to read this, and yes, I consider her to be one of those people that at least tries.  Having spent about an hour and a half this evening walking Mom through some of the finer points of Facebook, it can be a little bit tiring.  But you know what?  My Mom is on Facebook, which is more than I can say for one of my brothers.

As a technological side note, based on my line of work, the next war will be fought (and already is being fought) in cyberspace.  Our society has progressed to the point that a huge majority of our infrastructure relies heavily on cyber technology.  If you want to win a war against a foe, you attack the infrastructure, right?  In the past, military forces have always relied on “hard kills” to take out infrastructure, but what if you could take it out without firing a missile or dropping a bomb?  It’s called a “soft kill”, but the end result can be the same.  America is no different in regards to our infrastructure, and that’s why cyber defense has become so incredibly important.

The Iwo Jimas and Normandy beaches will all be in cyber space in the next war.