Techologically Unbalanced

Technology annoys me. I hate the way it insists on evolving and being responsible for new and covetable items that I feel I need to have, even though I was perfectly happy with what I already had until this new thing came along. After years of complaining about texting and how useless I am at it, I finally traded up to a phone with a full keyboard that makes texting so much easier. It’s also great for a quick email check or internet search when I’m away from a computer. It's perfect. Well, it was perfect until somebody let me play with their iPhone. Now I want one of those instead. Or as well as, if I could think of a way to justify both. This is annoying because I was really enjoying this phone. It’s fun to use and is so far above anything I've had previously, and had I not been introduced to the iPhone I would be none the wiser. But I've got the idea of the shiny new gadget into my head, so what was a great phone now seems like second best.

Of course there’s always the fear that I will give up something I’m happy with only to find the new item is just not as good as the old one. I had a great DVD player. It was stupidly cheap, but it played DVDs (which is all I was asking, to be fair) and it would remember my place even when I turned it off or took the disc out. I realise this is quite standard technology, but I'd always get just a little excited to have it pick up from where I left off with no scanning backwards and forwards and trying to remember where I was up to. Then I decided to get a DVD recorder for those rare times that I actually wanted to record something. I couldn’t justify the cost of a PVR, so I figured this was a reasonable alternative. It works fine and does what I need it to do, but it doesn’t save my place like the old one did. Now every time I have to waste time trying to find where I got up to I just get annoyed all over again. And on a much more superficial level, it’s not as pretty as the old one. That one was sleek and silver and unobtrusive. This one’s black and clunky and takes up more space. While it is "better" in theory because it records, I still miss the old one. Although I am pleased it found a good home - I passed it on to my mother who’s also very impressed when it saves her place, so at least its legacy lives on.

Now, as much as I want the iPhone, the reality is my phone works fine, is still relatively new and makes me happy, so why can’t I get past the overwhelming desire for a different one? And it would also mean retiring my beloved iPod which despite being almost four years old, has never given me a moment’s concern. So this leaves me with a difficult dilemma - do I move on to something better (in theory), and leave the past behind, even though I've been happy with it up until now? Or do I stick with what I’ve got which, although slightly outdated and imperfect, I’ll be very sad let go? And why must stupid technology change and improve just to torture me, anyway? I'm so happy when I don't know any better. In my ideal world I’d still be content not sending text messages while listening to records and making mix tapes that I could play on my awesome Sony Walkman.