Perils of a Tech-driven Life?!

Instead of expecting to finish that long tech to-do list, maybe we should find the Zen in the art of computer maintenance, or so says Brad Stone in "Our So-Called Digital Life".

“Finally. I am about to stop building and start living my digital life. In just a few more days, the computers, accessories and software tools that I use at home and work will be fully upgraded, optimized and fine-tuned for maximum efficiency.”

The column focuses, only half in jest, on the perils of today’s tech-driven world. You must patch the OS, update security settings, defrag hard drive and download a new anti-spyware tool; you need to subscribe to Skype, Del.icio.us, Flickr and satellite radio, PayPal, Paltalk, Grokster and Friendster… archive old e-mail and preserve the addresses of the good contacts, pick through the spam filter and separate family messages from the e-mails of all those desperate Nigerians… You need to backup the hard drive, connect TiVo to the home network and widescreen TV to stereo system, sync the digital camera to the PC, and thereafter transfer the photos to the Web, ordered, tagged, captioned, etc. etc. You need to create a new playlists in iTunes, start a blog, begin a daily podcast, and perhaps a video blog as well. You also need to research new cell phones, change the settings on the current one…ad infinitum… …And to add to all of it, you need to read this stupid blog, making fun of all the people like me & you, and the lives we lead… Having read the column, one is more sympathetic of Brad when he says (emphasis mine!),

“Then, after I have checked off all the items on my technology to-do list, the tools that I need to live a fulfilled digital life will finally be fully assembled. Unless true fulfillment is forever elusive. Maybe the intensive, time-consuming effort needed to manage my digital life is itself my digital life.”

Here’s to digital enlightenment!