I recently turned 37 but despite my age and place in Generation X, I straddle two different worlds…one in which technology is readily embraced and the other in which technology is viewed with cynicism, doubt, fear, and suspicion.
I own a cell phone but rarely turn it on because it’s a pay-as-you-go phone that I really only keep for emergencies. Friends bust my balls about reaching my voice mail all the time but that’s why voice mail was invented so you can keep the phone off.
I email but don’t text partially because I have an aversion to reducing all human thought into a few short letters and numbers and partially because as a writer I prefer a full size keyboard rather than fine blocks of letters more usable with a doll’s hand.
I listen to music online but don’t download it, burn it, or upload it to an Ipod. I still own CDs but have not bought one in years. Instead I have rediscovered a love of classical music and new age readily available on radio for free.
I use a computer but would rather read a newspaper or a book than read text online.
I watch TV but not on a computer because the couch is more comfortable than a chair when allowing my brain to turn to mush.
And so when it comes to technology I straddle two generations, the boomers and the millenials but don’t quite fit the stereotypical Generation X definition either.
Do you straddle?