Technophobe?

I have a reputation for being a bit of technophobe.  It really isn’t fair.  I’m not afraid of technology.  I’m cautious, that’s all.  I like to take things slow.  I dangle my feet in the shallow end of the techno pool instead of diving head first.

Now I don’t pretend to understand everything about my personality, but I think I know where this technophobe stuff comes from.  I’m not very old--not by my own reckoning anyway.  I’m only in my 50’s.  But in my 50+ years I’ve seen a lot of technology come and go.  And, to be honest, that’s a little scary…

When I was in junior high school, I liked math and my geometry teacher talked me into buying my first slide rule.  In a world before computers and calculators, the slide rule was a true technological wonder.  I still don’t know how it worked, but you could multiply, divide and do much, much more by simply moving the slider and the curser back and forth.  I decided I would invest in a luxury model--a beautiful, sturdy slide rule made of wood laminate that set me back around $75.  If you’ve ever watched Apollo 13, you’ll remember all the NASA engineers working feverishly on their slide rules, checking and rechecking their calculations.  That was me.  I had the newest gadget.  I was cutting edge.  I was high tech.

But within a year or two my slide rule was reduced to dinosaur status.  Calculators began making their way onto the market.  I had to buy one.  I can’t say it was a “pocket” calculator because that would imply it would fit into a pocket.  Not this one.  No way!  As I remember, it was around eight inches long, six inches wide, and three quarters of an inch high.  Despite its monstrous size, this calculator did almost nothing other than the basics.  But $75 later, I was the proud owner of technology’s latest and greatest.

Fast forward a year and I was using my new calculator as a paper weight.  I was getting ready for college and I needed a bigger, better and newer calculator.  So I plunked down $100 and I added a Texas Instruments (“TI”) calculator to my ever-growing collection.  It was probably only half the size of my first calculator, but this one had all the latest bells and whistles.  Logarithms.  Square roots.  You name it, and my brand new $100 calculator could do it all.

So let’s recap, shall we…

In a span of five years, I spent $250 on the simplest of math accessories.  According to an inflation calculator, that’s the equivalent of spending $900 in 2015.  Yikes!  Not only that, my slide rule literally became extinct.  My first calculator too.  I’m guessing in a very short span of time my new “TI” met the same fate.

And that, I think, is the root of my phobia.  You invest time and money.  You slowly become comfortable with the newest technology.  But the only constant in the world of technology is change.  And change is coming.  Trust me.  It’s right around the corner.  As the Red Queen said in Through the Looking Glass, “it takes all the running you can do” just to keep up.  And that, unfortunately, is what runs headlong into my cautious nature.   I admit it.  I get nervous about the future.  Unsettled.  Maybe, I guess, a tiny bit afraid…

So what about you?  Be honest.  Are you running to keep up with technology?  Or do you have a touch of technophobia like me?