Let’s go back a few years.   Still a time when things were fairly modern.  We had TV, radio, telephones – we considered ourselves to living in a technically advanced world.  I am referring to the 1950’s into the late 1960’s, more or less.   Some of our techo gadgets may have started to appear during the latter part of this era, but for the most part, compared to today, life was pretty simple.

If you wanted to make a phone call, you used a land-line.  A wired telephone.  Car phones did exist, but were rare and expensive.  If you were not at home or in the office, you used a pay phone.  And if you wanted to call someone in another city, you asked for the long-distance operator.  You gave her the number, and then hung up and waited for her to call back once the call was connected.  It might take up to 20 minutes or more for the call to be connected.

Typing a letter or other document was done on a typewriter.  A mechanical thing that printed directly on paper each time you pressed a key.  If you made a mistake, you stopped, erased it with an eraser, and then went on.  You would want to know in advance if you needed more than one copy so you could put in a sheet of carbon paper for the second copy.  Now let’s assume you have a document and you do need another copy.  There isn’t a handy copy machine in the office.  You take your copy to the photo-copy place, and in a few hours or the next day your copy or copies would be ready.

Only very large companies had something called a facsimile machine where you could actually send a document over the phone line.  The rest of us simply mailed our items, and patiently waited a few days for it to get there.

If we wanted to shop for something that was not available in our local store, we would find it in a catalog, mail our order, and in two weeks or so we would get our merchandise.

Our roads and buildings and machines weren’t designed with the help of computers.  Engineers with slide rules and pencils worked out the math and the designs.  In spite of this tremendous handicap, many of our “modern marvels” managed to be created.  Store clerks had to figure change.  Bankers had to hand-write their ledgers.

And so it was until technology came to our rescue.  We are now blessed with countless machines and gadgets to save time.  To make our work easier.  We are so fortunate to have all of this today.   Or are we?  It seems to me that back before we saved so much time, before the computers made our work so much easier, we somehow had time at the end of the day to relax with our families or friends.  We had time for games, conversation, social gatherings and so much more.  Where is all that today?  What have we done with all the time we have saved with all our technology?  I often ponder whether we have really improved the quality of life, or if we have only succeeded in making it all go faster.

 -- Rockwell Smith       January 2007