Technology scares me ...

I've never been too good at understanding technology. It can feel really scary and intimidating at times. Perhaps it's the knowledge that I am extremely clueless when it comes to troubleshooting technological problems. Perhaps it's not knowing how exactly technology works. Don't get me wrong. I really do appreciate technology and all that it's capable of doing. But my technophobia is probably a result of being aware that technology seems to be evolving and developing at such a breakneck pace that it sometimes feels like it's rushing on ahead and leaving many of us non-technophiles behind.

Within the last week, I forced myself to make the acquaintance of my new phone, a Nokia N73 and my new 80GB Ipod. This last week really has been technology overload for me. I've actually had the N73 sitting in its box since the beginning of this year but a combination of factors (mostly my technophobia) resulted in me only opening it and learning to use it a week ago. I figured my old Nokia really needed to be put aside. The Ipod was a practical consideration. I figured it was the only solution to the problem of not being able to bring all my Cds over the the US when I leave in August.

Now that I've gotten more familiar with these two new devices in my life, I'm starting to wonder why I didn't consider having them earlier. It's strange but just a week ago I didn't have them in my life and now, a week later, I'm starting to feel like I can't do without them. Technology has this strange effect on you doesn't it?

However, I'm still wary of them. I'm worried about them breaking down and not working as they should. And then I may feel completely lost not having them functioning properly, especially when I know I won't have a clue how to get them fixed except to leave them with customer support.

For me, technology is like the people you meet who, after you get to know them, you start to really appreciate and love deeply, and feel that you can't do without. However, there always seems to be some sort of barrier that the other person erects. No matter how hard you try to understand them, they never let you get through completely. Just like how technology is. You can read the manual from cover to cover and know how a device functions but you'll never really figure out how it all really happens scientifically.

Back to people. Even when you feel you have gotten to know them pretty well, you realise you still need to walk circumspectly around them for fear that any wrong step on your part could jeopardise whatever closeness you have attempted to establish till then. And so it is with me and techonology. Despite loving them in my life, this inability to completely understand them will make me always slightly afraid of them; afraid that they will fail me one day and stop working and that I will have no clue how to fix the problem, afraid that all the time I spent getting to know how they work will go to waste.

I'm not sure if my analogy above makes any sense. It does to me, in some strange-Leslie's mind- way. If it doesn't to you, thanks for trying to understand anyway :) I don't know why writing about the two new devices in my life suddenly made me think of the two unreciprocated loves of my life.

I can't seem to write a typical blog can I? Where you write about what happened during your day, the things you did, the movies you watched, the friends you laughed with etc. Well, guess I titled this blog appropriately then, Leslie's Musings of the Mind ..... (can your blog address get any longer? according to Shouchen, Candice and Eleanor) ....