Thank You Technology.

Edition #82 - Sunday, June 11, 2006

Yesterday morning I awoke, but my computer didn't. At some point during the night my precious Mac G4 slipped into a coma and stopped responding. After a forced shut down and restart, an unfamiliar icon appeared on my blank screen. "Oh no," I thought, "my Mac is dead!"

False alarm; it was only a bad cable that I can replace. Nowadays I can diagnose and fix most software and hardware-related computer problems. However, a major meltdown is what I really dread. I can't afford a costly repair or a new computer right now, and that makes me feel a bit vulnerable.

NOTE: Before we continue, if you are upgrading to a newer computer soon and want to donate your old G4, G5 or Pentium 4 PC machine to me as a backup, I'd be thrilled and truly grateful to accept it. Contact me. I know you're out there somewhere, whoever you are.

Back In 1986

Generally speaking, I'm in better circumstances than that Al-Zarqawi fellow. But still, if my computer breaks down then so will the life I've built around it. This would have sounded pathetic to me twenty years ago. In 1986 I was touring with a band called Century and the only technology I cared about back then was my guitar, my amp, and my cigarette lighter. Much has changed since then.

It was always my ambition to record an album of my own music. In 1986 that meant hoping to become some record company's flavor of the week band so they'd pay for the studio time. I don't need their approval these days, nor the pressures of corporate market shares upon my creative output. The rules of the game have changed, and musicians like myself are the well-deserved winners this time around. We may not be rich, but at least we're not slaves or whores. I call that progress.

In many ways my life began when I bought my first computer. I'd done all the regular people things but nothing seemed to stick or hold meaning for me. I was not amused. Yet my computer has allowed me develop powers that I could never have wielded in the "real world" without jumping to a different occupation every ten years. With the skills I've acquired at home I can not only make my own records and design my own artwork, but I can also build websites and write and design my own books, all of which I'm currently doing, or have already accomplished. And because of my close relationship to this technology, my world would crumble if my computer broke down. I don't want to go back to 1986. (Well okay, maybe for the "free love," but that's all!). Farmers dread the hailstorm and drought. I dread the power failure.

And Now, The Future

I'm not the only who lives a precarious techno existence. Throughout the world we're becoming ever more dependent upon our electronic gizmos and gadgetry. Back in 1986, I didn't know anyone who owned a cell phone, a camcorder or a Global Positioning System. Today, it's hard to imagine the world without these impressive new tech tools and toys.

Every generation can benefit from the freedom that computer technology offers. My mother, for instance, has bought a digital camera and has filled her home with pictures she's printed herself. She can also take 200 photos a day at no additional cost to view them on her computer screen. And in the service of human relationships, several people I know have found a biological parent through a geneology website, something that didn't exist before computers arrived. What a great gift. And where would our lives be without email? It's hard to imagine going back to a life of fewer choices.

Not Everything Is "Hot," Paris Darling!

Computers make life less boring. The world beyond our computer screens is often full of shallow distractions that masquerade as something of importance. But do we really care about who the next "Top Model" will be, or who will be discarded from this year's flock of American Idol hopefuls? And how many nights can we drink costly beer at clubs or eat our meals in restaurants to ward off boredom or loneliness? The internet allows us to pick and choose our content at our pace. We can follow our interests to destinations that regular media would never allow. We aren't being controlled or limited by commercial considerations. We aren't being treated as market share or consumers.

On the internet every hour has 60 minutes. We aren't constantly being interrupted by 16 minutes of commercials (although some websites try). And for creative types like myself, nothing lives up to the satisfaction of divining the depths of our imagination and expressing it in real time to an unlimited global audience. From blogging to websites and chat rooms, the possibilites for refreshing new human contact are endless. We don't have to be face to face for our ideas, emotions and our hearts to reach others.

I love creating on my computer. I watch only 2 or 3 hours of television each week as a result. Moreover, all of my projects and future ambitions depend upon my interaction with others through my computer. Sure, I still talk in person and on the telephone with people, but my computer lets me reach out to the whole world at once — or at least those parts with internet service.

Through my efforts, my book Reality Check is now being read by people in Europe, South Africa and beyond. My free eBook, How I Finally Quit Smoking — For Good, also continues to be downloaded frequently each month without cost, border tariffs or store markups to get in the way of someone ending their addiction to nicotine. That was never possible before.

My Get Real Newsletter also reaches new people each month in places as far away as India and Russia. And soon I will also be sharing my own music in the same fashion. As you can see, I need to be wired. And I need you to be wired with me, otherwise we're just strangers across a great divide, people who would otherwise never meet. Isn't that amazing? I think so.

Through computers we can often realize our dreams faster than pounding the pavement of the brick and mortar world. For many of us, our computer is a life raft in an ocean of nonesense. I'm staying in mine. To hell with the sharks.


See you guys next month,
Roland Kriewaldt



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