Of iPhones, the Internet, and life today

As I sit in the overcrowded breakfast room of a motel in southern Indiana with a driving rainstorm outside and hordes of high school girls' softball players milling around waiting for the rain to stop, I had some thoughts on the new media.  I'm specifically wondering whether we aren't putting all our eggs in the technology basket too soon.

For example, I'm in this room because the Internet connection in my room doesn't exist. The computer says it's connected, but the browser says it's not. So I couldn't rely on new technology in the room even if I wanted to. Frankly, it happens at home and in the office as well; the network just isn't 100% reliable. Second, those who bought the newest version of the iPhone (soon, of course, to be replaced by the next version), I read, are having problems connecting their newest toy. The computer gods keep giving us new toys, but there always seems to be a glitch or two (like trying to use Microsoft Office 2007 version of PowerPoint or Excel), and, don't worry, they'll download a patch or two or three that may or may not fix your particular problem -- if you can connect and the rain isn't too hard.

The bottom line of all this is that for all the promise of technology, we still aren't at a place where it is reliable and easy enough to fulfill its promise. Sure, I'm not giving up the Internet -- I love it's potential -- but reliability and efficiency seem to be too often left in the dust by the technophobes.