those people who bemoan the pace of technological development
are not really longing for the state of nature. They are just sick
of being hounded, badgered, hectored and pushed — as they see it —
constantly to learn new things, acquire new gizmos, keep up-to-date
and buy the latest thing….

I get this all the time when I talk to people about new stuff.
Their first response is often: “No thanks. I’ve had it with all
this techno wizardry and digital age mania. Whatever happened to a
world in which people had authentic human contact, admired the
beauty of God’s creations and developed genuine relationships,
instead of virtual ones?”….  

I talked to a person the other day whose aging sister absolutely
refuses to get a computer, an email address or a cellphone. Yes,
such people do exist. When siblings want to contact her, they call
or write a letter with a stamp. There is no sharing of photos, no
video Skype, no keeping up with daily events. Everyone in the
family is very close in the way that only digital technology
allows, but this one person is the outlier, cut off from what
everyone else experiences on a daily basis.  

I asked if she feels cut off. The answer: Yes, and she is very
unhappy about it. She complains that people don’t travel long
distances to see her enough. They don’t call enough. She is losing
track of what is happening with the grandkids. She has a constant
sense that she is just out of it, and this depresses her.

Exactly. She is not actually happy with her choice. It’s just
that making this choice seems easier than learning new things and
buying new stuff. So she rationalizes her decisions as a principled
stand against the digitization of the world.

My experience is that these people have no idea the extent to
which they inconvenience others. In fact, I would say that it comes
close to being rude. It is not immoral, but it sure is annoying.
Instead of dropping an email or posting on a Facebook wall or
clicking a button on Skype, family members have to write out up
their communications and stick them in an envelope and find a stamp
and walk to a mailbox and wait a week or two or three to get an
answer back.

It’s all kind of crazy. People do it for a while, but then
eventually find themselves annoyed and give up. Then the person on
the other end gets angry and upset and feels ignored or cut
off…..

True confession: I was once among the late adopters. I freely
put down the techno enthusiasts. I wrote a highly negative review
to Virginia Postrel’s provocative book
The Future and Its Enemies, which turns out to have seen what I
did not see. After the digital revolution advanced more and more, I
began to notice something. By being a late adopter, I gained no
advantage whatsoever. All it meant was that I paid a high price in
the form of foregone opportunities. If something is highly useful
tomorrow, chances are that it is highly useful today, too. It took
me a long time to learn this lesson.

Finally, I did, and my fears, excuses, rationalizations and
strange anti-tech snobbery melted away.

To really engage life to its fullest today means being willing
to embrace the new without fear. It means realizing that we have
more mental and emotional resources to take on new challenges. If
we can marshal those and face these challenges with courage and
conviction, we nearly always find that our lives become more
fulfilling and happy.