Technology is a wonderful thing.  We can agree on this certainly.  But for those of a certain generation, we’ve lived through some drastic, dramatic changes.

Let’s start with the workplace. 

Who remembers learning to type on manual typewriters with carbon paper by the box full to make those increasingly smudgy duplicates?  The keys were a nightmare; they jammed once you got going at a fast rate on a regular basis until you developed a rhythm.  Then years later, we transitioned to electric typewriters with those interchangeable font balls — wow, how could things get better?  But they did.  Enter the desktop computers.  Now that was a true learning curve.  Typing on a screen (the first ones were black with green letters, remember?), then sending your work to a central printing area.  If something was confidential, it was a finish line dash to get there before the job started printing.  And finally, to laptops.  Timesaving, portable, user-friendly.  All true. But your office can go everywhere you go now, especially if you’re one of those ‘I take my laptop home every night types.’  Honestly, do you really fire it up every night?  Give yourself, and your family, a break and leave it at work where it belongs at least a few times a week.  And, laptops do not need a vacation!  You, on the other hand, definitely need one.  Uncurl those typing fingers and go fishing, play in the sand, play golf, shop – enjoy some sunshine with your family.

Concerned about your personal data? 

Have you invested in a home shredder?  Perhaps more than one?  A family friend, we’ll call her Jean, shared that there are currently four home shredders waiting for large bulk pick-up at her home.  They all succumbed to being overstuffed and jammed beyond their capacity to chew up more than four pages at a time.  Patience is a virtue but not when watching paper crawl leisurely through the shredder teeth evidently.  Really, who wants to hunch over a shredder and feed it endless stacks of paper?  Thankfully, the recent fundraising trend of mobile shredding events has emerged to save the day.  Just load up all that stuff that you don’t want to just trash and take it to one of these events for a donation.  It’s a time-saver for you, your private data, and a help to a worthwhile cause.  Check social media for shredding events nearby.

Now to the kitchen and all those timesaving tools and appliances. 

Don’t you love that current commercial when the child asks ‘What does the dishwasher do?’  It’s really a valid question.  We all know, or are, those folks who clean the dishes to spotlessness before loading them into the dishwasher.  Isn’t that what it’s supposed to do?  And, we’ve all learned that painful lesson of not putting Tupperware in the bottom rack, right?  How many lidless bowls are stacked in your cabinet waiting on a match?

What’s the worst chore in the kitchen?  If it’s emptying the dishwasher, join the crowd. Do you sometimes just fill the sink with suds and enjoy hand-washing dishes in a quiet kitchen?  Why’s it quiet?  Because nobody wants to help.  You have a little time to yourself!

And the small appliances that are designed to save so much time that end up as one-use wonders!  Remember the first crockpots – those hunter green (the color alone is a giveaway) pots that plugged in and cooked a roast with all the trimmings overnight?  They worked great for sure, but cleaning them was a mess!  The power cord didn’t detach so you ended up rolling the thing all over the counter to get the food residue out.  Thankfully, manufacturers recognized this issue and redesigned them with lift-out pots.  That improvement alone makes them practical for daily use to this day.

Microwave ovens are a staple in most homes. However, their convenience factor has a side issue — less home cooking and more on-the-run meals.  It’s a win-win but don’t you enjoy putting an entirely homemade meal together once in a while?  Dust off one of those cookbooks on the shelf and have a family night of cooking together.  Isn’t that the premise behind many of those home-delivery cooking options that are so popular these days?

Yes, technology has its place and its benefits. Just don’t let it run you.  Pick where it can help and where you’d just as soon do it yourself!