Thursday, January 8, 2009

Obama's Gotta Simplify

In Walden, Thoreau said it quite simply, that we need to simplify our lives. “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand” Well, sometimes that's easier said than done. In the wake of Obama's entrance into office, he will be forced to face the inevitable, and much dreaded, simplification of his everyday life by losing his BlackBerry. In an age where email is such a common source of communication, unfortunately, hacking is as well. This means that unfortunately, Obama's going to have to give up his BlackBerry for the cause of National safety.
The fact that this is actually a real issue for President Obama just demonstrates what a huge role these everyday technologies play in our lives. In fact-it plays such a big role that people feel helpless without it. Now, I'm not entirely sure that we should necessarily consider it progress. I mean, yeah, that's awesome that you can access your email, photos, facebook, and phone all in one device-but I think it's sad sometimes just how dependent society has become on it. I think that it's great technology to have, but we should try not to let ourselves fall into complete dependency over it, or else we really aren't progressing at all. Who knows, maybe Obama will appreciate Thoreau's advice, whether or not he's willingly taking it.

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