Dale Hershman     Remote Control I stood in line, anxiously waiting to buy my movie ticket. One by one, as the people ahead of me made their selections, the teenage movie attendant would ring up the sale on the electronic cash register, and the line would move smoothly in a happy little procession. Then disaster struck. The attendant's trusty register made an alarming clicking noise and sputtered out. With no more provocation than a lightning storm outside, the register abandoned the attendant in her time of need. "No big deal," I thought, "she'll just make change on her own, and I'll make it to my movie on time." The acne-ridden teenager stared tensely at the dead machine and back at the line of anxious movie goers, then proceeded to call her manager. "Okay," I thought, "this is the part where the manager comes and tells the attendant to go ahead and make the change on her own." Instead, the manager also proceeded to stare with wide eyed panic at the dead register. Would the duo be so bold as to make the sales without the mathematical aide of the computer? "O.K. folks, we'll just have to wait a few moments until we get the computer back on line ..." When I asked why they couldn't just ring up the sales themselves, the attendant shared a tale of horror with me: "We actually had to do that once. We made all the change ourselves ... damn, that was tough ..." Ah yes, the joys of the electronic era. Don't get me wrong. Technology is great. With computer automation, we have become more efficient and don't have to waste time on grunt work like making change. In spite ofwhat Bill Gates would tell you, we have also paid a hefty price for admission into the Information Age. Our attention spans have shrunk, while we rarely bother with personal communication. In many ways, technology has just made us dumber rather than providing some kind of enlightenment. Take TV viewing, for example. Reaching back into the dark recesses of my mind, I remember a day before the remote control. As primitive as it may seem, we were actually happy watching one show at a time, or perhaps occasionally getting up to change the channel. Now, if by some heinous twist of fate my remote is misplaced, a serious crisis ensues. First I feel angry, as if an old friend has deserted me in my time of need. Then I feel sheer panic. I can't actually get up to change the channel, and God knows that I can't watch one show for more than five minutes! Eventually, after attempting to watch without my little friend, I give up and do something like (gasp!) pick up a book. Before I became accustomed to the remote, I never needed it. Much like a heroin addict, I have become dependent on that little chunk of the technological world. Another example of the drawbacks of technology is the isolation that is becoming commonplace in the late 20th century. When I first discovered e-mail, I was excited about keeping in touch with friends and family all over the world. Now I am, like most of the university community, an e-mail junkie. What do I use e-mail for the most? Sending messages to people right here on Grounds. Warm smiles and reassuring voices have been replaced by cold letters printed on a screen. Sure, I could take the time to pick up the phone and call them, or maybe I could even be daring and actually go see them. But nothing is done face-to-face in the Information Age: ATM machines have largely replaced bank tellers, and it is often impossible to get an actual person on the phone. Financial empires are often won and lost in split second electronic transactions. At this rate, we may soon eliminate human contact altogether. "Sure," you may say, "but what we have lost in contact, we have gained in speed and efficiency ... right?" Most of the time this is true, but there are still many times when we are only reminded of how imperfect our technology still is: ATM machines snatch your card out of pure malice; ISIS screws up; and your e-mail mysteriously and suddenly shuts down because "you have performed illegal operations." But I must admit to being a hypocrite. This article was written on a computer. I love my remote control and can't remember how to do long division because I don't go near a math problem without a calculator. For better or worse, I am ready for the twenty-first century.

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