IM Part Two

Technology is great, ain't it folks? To give you an idea of what kind of brilliant, time-saving things you can do with technology, right now I'm sitting inches away from my girlfriend with my laptop in my...lap..and I'm using the popular AOL Instant Messenger to communicate with her.

Yes. I'm that lame.

But then again, she's putting up with it, so maybe I'm not as far gone as I think.

I'm turning into an old man before my time. I've found that when I recieve text messages on my cell phone, the first thing I think is "what the--?" because the notification sound is a woman's voice saying "new message!" and that voice comes from my pants.

Which is creepy.

The second thought, after the initial confusion wears off, is "what? Why text? Why not just call me up?"

Granted, I'm generally happy to have someone contact me, regardless of method. It just seems a bit silly to be going backwards like that. First, there was the letter, which had to travel by Pony Express to your neighbor in Dirty Butte in the next territory. These letters were handwritten. Text.

Then came the telegraph. Dots and dashes formed words, and were sent across wires. It was very annoying to listen to, because it sounded like demented crickets. I'll bet.

Then we got the telephone, arguably the most important invention of the modern era. You were able to press a sequence of numbers and talk to your friend in Dirty Butte as if you were right there next to their ear, sitting inside a vaguely banana-shaped hunk of plastic. It was amazing.

Now we're back to using our phones to send text. Faster than the Pony Express, but...well, it's got a rustic charm, I guess.

Okay. Old Man out. I'm done whining for tonight.