Discovery exercise

Comment on anything technology related? Well I have enjoyed exploring these new web tools so far. I might even open up a Flickr account to save a copy of my photos, private I think for the people populated ones. I can even see possibilities for making a few Christmas present calendars. I have opened a Delicious account, it made sense and appealed.

An article I read the other day about technology and ebooks, got me thinking. The world today has lost/changed some of the innocence and magic in the way of communication channels. I can remember catching the bus to work, seeing the cover of a book that a fellow traveller was reading, being intrigued and attaining a copy. Can you do that with an ebook? That unspoken communication. If you drop a book accidentally, some pages may fall out but you still have the pages. What happens if you drop a kindle? Do you have to buy a new one?
I know we have been discovering new modern IT ways to communicate, and they're enjoyable, exciting and isolating in the sense we're communicating with a computer - indoors, in order to communicate with others (the world) via a screen. We should be outside, exercising, fresh air, communicating face to face. We are losing some of the 'old ways' which seemed much gentler somehow. Gentler because we could not always be contacted anywhere, anytime - no cellphones, no blackberries, no iphones. We had time to 'switch off', be contactable when we chose to be.

On the other hand, the new technologies have made life easier. Instant communication with friends and family around the world, instead of weeks by snail mail. Internet banking, conference video calls, smartboards!
So, while I'm excited by these new discoveries, I'm saddened that the up coming generations will not live a way of life without being 'on-call'.