The Big Life

I had this interesting talk with a couple of my friends – we were talking about, how, when as you grow up, a person tends to think in a higher level of abstraction. How, we were both post-appreciative of things that happen to us, good times start seeming like REALLY good times when we look back, maybe even years later.

Since I have this fondness for remembering things, it really resonated with me – how the “bad” times in my life could’ve been averted IF ONLY the appropriate technology existed at the time. Say, if consumer-digital cameras existed before the 2000’s, then I’d have tons more pictures that are e-mail ready, stuff like that.

I’ll give a couple of examples of some events in my life, and how they could have been, IF ONLY the tech existed.

Scenario 1: The Job Hunt

Looking for a job entailed buying a copy of the dailies (that’s the newspaper, see) and rummaging through classifieds for job openings. After that, you’d have to physically bring a copy of your printed resume to show that office for the very first time. (It wasn’t a sure deal either, you were never sure if the job’s still open or not.) I’ve wasted tons of man-hours getting lost in the city, only to find out that I didn’t have the right qualification, or, worse case scenario, I never find the office in time. (Plus, I always brought extra resumes with me, in case, well, you know, there were other offices nearby.) After that, of course, was the prerequisite waiting … for a confirmation phone call.

Imaginary Scenario 1:

Had Monster.com (or similar services) existed years prior, a job opening was only always an e-mail away, plus, it virtually eliminates all the bulletin-board-classified-ad browsing, since most of them match jobs to my qualifications. Plus, if it ever came to a point that I had to lug myself to an office, Wikimapia would be the easiest way for finding the most efficient route to that office.

Scenario 2: Losing My Way

Ever been to a family trip? I have, and, being the kid that I was, I would often wander off, not cross the street at the right time, etc. However that good that was in nurturing my curiosity, it has also made for some awkward getting-lost-in-a-foreign-land-lost-in-translation moments. Plus, I could remember, these trips were planned months in advance! (The longest, I think was a year before?) That involved all the paperwork, and lots and lots of phone calls.

Imaginary Scenario 2:

Had the family been carrying cell phones with roaming capabilities, it would be easier to coordinate when and where to meet, in case any member of the family got lost, plus, we have phones with GPS built-in now, beating that “stay-in-one-corner-‘til-they-find-me” tactic. Plus, the cool thing is, it would take like, a week to set up a nice trip nowadays, so, rather than sitting around waiting for phone calls, you could sit in your room and set something up, even on a whim! (God bless online reservation!)

Scenario 3: Bee Season

I hated doing book reports. I guess “study period,” the time allotted for library visits was just a way for the teachers to have a little time off. This entailed memorizing library catalogues, the Dewey decimal system, inner-workings of the library and copy forms for the photocopier.

Imaginary Scenario 3:

I could’ve done everything so much faster had Encarta and Grolier’s put out their discs a few years earlier. Plus, my absolute favorite — Google! This meant I could’ve spent more time polishing my paper instead of having to do rewrites. Plus, it would’ve done away with the paper waste, which satiates my need to put nature first.

I’m think that I’ve lost a fraction of my childhood to tedious tasks, but looking at the kids today, with all of this tech at their disposal, maybe they’ll grow up and wonder, “how the hell did we get anything accomplished with the DSLs, DVDs and whatnot, if plugging your brain directly to the matrix is possible?”