Is our life a little too covenient?

It never ceases to amaze me the great lengths that our culture will go to make our life easier. Long gone are the days of the pony express and telegrams. Now we have everything right at our fingertips. One electronic device alone will hold everything we need to make our life run smoother and faster. A cell phone is not just a means to talk to someone, it’s a place to check our e-mail, make business deals, listen to our favorite music and send pictures to our friends.

I have to wonder, is our life too easy? People seem to forget how to write a letter of thank you these days. Simple manners like holding a door open for someone or helping someone carry their bags have gone out the window. Everything is so convenient and so easy that going out of our way to be nice people just takes too long to bother with.

You can hardly spend quality time with anyone these days; we have too much to distract us: phone calls, text messages and i-pods.

I remember the days when you had to plan your life around your favorite television shows. I couldn’t do anything on Thursday nights because that’s when ER came on. Now we can record our favorite shows and watch them anytime we want, and in case we forgot to record them, we can always go on the internet and watch old episodes. Sometimes I laugh as I find myself pausing the episode of I Love Lucy I’m watching. I mean doesn’t it seem just a little ironic that you can pause, rewind and fast forward through a 1950’s sitcom television that only aired in black and white?

I bet most of us have forgotten what our own handwriting looks like since everything has gone electronic. Walk into a college classroom and you'll see a row full of students typing on their laptops, most of them haven’t seen a notebook and pen since grade school. The only papers we receive in the mail are bills and ads. Even birthday wishes are sent via online greeting cards.

Now don’t get me wrong. I love technology just as much as the next person. I just wonder if we’ve become so dependent, so accustomed to it that we forgot how to live without it, or how to be happy with out it. Next time someone does something nice for you, write them a note. Forget sending them a thank you on e-mail or your community website. Go grab some starbucks with a friend and sit down with a friend for a long conversation. Face to face, and not via text messaging. Oh, and leave the cell phone at home (or at least turned off and in your purse).