Taking My Place in a Highly Technologically Advanced World?

So, I am not exactly what anyone would call technologically savvy.

Still, it seemed like a good idea to get one of these computer tablets, particularly the ones where you can download and store books on it, and ultimately build a library.

You see, I enjoy reading, and love books. It was something that, I think, my grandfather actually really got me into. He was a learned man, in his own, quiet way. He loved chess, had a wonderful stamp collection (both things that he got me into – and he also got me into American football), and also enjoyed books. His personal library was quite large, and with a relatively diverse range of books and subject matter. It should be noted that these were during the days before the internet and easily getting the best price for whatever book you want. This was before they ever heard of such a thing as downloading books. So, to have such a collection was impressive. It would be impressive today, even. But for back then, he really had an extensive personal library, for someone of relatively modest means.

I knew that I wanted to be like that when I grew up. I wanted a rich personal library, like his.

And I got it.

The thing is, it was so much simpler for me. So much easier, that it really was not even funny. There are more stores in general these days then there were back then. Particularly, there were tons of used bookstores in the 1980's and 1990's. I tended to focus on discounted books and used books (although not exclusively), and by the time I was an older teenager, I already had a lot of books. Not enough to rival his, or anything. But a lot of books, nonetheless. I was beginning to learn some things, and not always what you might expect. I will expand on that a bit later.

By the late eighties, my book collection was large, although I was still just a kid, and had never really worked a real job or anything. I was a teenager, and with limited means. Still, I seemed to have a knack for being able to collect these things.

Onto the nineties. I could drive and get around. I started to have jobs, and thus, income of my own. That means money, and money to spend. Not least of all, I had the desire. So, I started frequenting certain bookstores, with a particular emphasis on used bookstores, and found some books, obviously. Some were real treasures, and looking back, they were books with great interest, and in great shape (at least some of the ones that are coming to mind presently). I began to have some favorite authors and genres (particularly Stephen King). I expanded it to French book (just in case any readers don't yet know, I am a Franco-American, a dual citizen of both the United States and France). By the end of the nineties, I actually had what could rightly be called a personal library.

Into the 2000's. My collection continued to grow. By now, of course, I started to use the internet to get books that were more specific to my interests. My collection, which was already fairly sizeable, now became huge, and I began to be able to afford being more discriminatory with buying books. I began to utilize library services much more, and borrowed books from friends and family much more to satisfy my desire to read, and to slake my thirst.

Still, my collection was starting to get huge.

Now, it's the 2010's. It's easier than ever now to amass a library, if you so desire. Of course, there are the old ways. Go to a normal bookstore, or perhaps go to a quaint little used bookshop with some character. That requires you getting up and going out, though, which also likely means spending money on gas. But these days, you don't have to do that, and are able to search for books (among many other things) from the comfort of home. Check Amazon or numerous other websites, including Ebay. You will instantly not only likely get the book that you want available for purchase, but you can see the prices, the condition of the book, the rating of the seller, and so on and so forth. These days, you likely can find your book for quite cheap, and there's a good chance, if it's a few years old, that you can get it used. If you have interest in foreign books that are traditionally more difficult to find, then the internet is incredibly useful in this regard, as well. It has become amazingly easy to get such things, and of course it's not just restricted to books, of course. Perhaps, it's a little too easy.

I know that I fell into the trap of temptation to build a huge library. There came a point, this would have been in the late part of the last decade or so, in the late 2000's, where I knew I had to begin to restrict purchase of books. That was the other thing that I had learned from collecting books. At some point, you start to have too many. It seems an obvious lesson, of course.

Yet, you might be surprised how easily you can dismiss such things. But there came a point when I looked, and saw that many of the books were not really necessary at all. Books that I had tried to read and just could not get through, or books that I really only had to read once, and never really referred to again. Books, in other words, that essentially took up precious space, and do little else.

Very soon, you begin to understand, as I have come to understand, that you must be much more selective with the books that you buy. That you need to think about space, not to mention the money that you can save by not actually buying the book or books, but by borrowing them. Not that I completely abstain from getting books. I still do get new books from my favorite authors, at least the ones that I care enough about to think that it would be worth it. Also, I still enjoy perusing through a used book store with character, and even still enjoy picking up a good book, particularly if it has some kind of special value to it. I enjoy antique books, for example. It is just that I have learned, out of necessity, to be much more selective over time, in the interests of money and space.

Which is where the tablet comes in. Because, in this day of such incredible technological advances and little gizmos, this one is a pretty impressive consumer item.

I usually have been able to resist the temptations of modern technology. It took me forever to get a steady cell phone. I experimented with one in 2002, and did not get a steady cell phone again for the greater part of the next decade (I have a cheap, prepaid one now, that cost me all of fifteen dollars, and has none of the really cool apps and such that people generally want in their cell phone these days. I am not interested in getting blu-ray, and have successfully resisted so far, because I assume that this is simply a money making machine, just another way for you, the consumer, to be pulled into spending more money to "update" your collection into this cool new Blu-Ray technology. Years ago, before this became a household name kind of a thing, I met a few people who owned these, and they were, in effect, showing these things off to me ("Look at what I have, and you don't have!:"). I just have not been interested in getting Blu-Ray, even though it seems to clearly be replacing DVD's. I resisted DVD's, and they still feel pretty cool and new, although now they are already seen as outdated (although not quite as outdated as what they replaced, VHS tapes, which really are rather outdated in this day and age). I resisted cd's as well, at least initially. All of these things I resisted, and mostly because of price. When I began to come around, was when the prices began to normalize, when these things stopped being exclusive, and super expensive. Once they were not cost prohibitive, then I began to get some of those things.

I resist the new and improved supserstores to an extent, particularly Walmart (although I still do shop at Target). I try and avoid the major megastores that have become monsters that put local businesses out of business. How can little Mom and Pop stores compete with the huge places with the enormous selections and rock bottom prices, such as Walmart, or Home Depot, or Barnes & Noble, just to name a few? Now, with online sites, it's even easier, with Amazon  and such. When I can, I try to emphasize buying local, although I have a thin wallet at times, too, and have given into temptation at times, admittedly. But I try to be cognizant of that, and resist these places to the extent possible.

Same with food places. I like no name shops. I remember working right next to a little deli, that was right next to a Dunkin' Donuts. I wanted coffee, and walked past a line that literally went right to the edge of the sidewalk – a very long line! –waiting for their Dunkin Donuts. But the little deli was virtually empty, and I got my cup of coffee quickly and easily, paid, and walked out. The same people on line had not moved, but the line had grown longer. I wondered what the hell was happening to our society, with these addictions of ours? I resist getting a lot of fast food, and have long done so, now (as long as Walmart). I don't go to McDonald's or Burger king or KFC or Taco Bell or numerous other such chains. When I can, I like trying new places, preferably some on a smaller scale. Local places, owned by real people who live and belong in the community. It's so much more interesting, with food that is not, in effect, manufactured, and a label and product with copyrights intellectual property, or whatever other legal webbing that they protect their brands with, and all. I do admittedly take my son to Wendy's every now and then, but even there, I try not to, if at all possible. This may not seem like it belongs in this discussion about new and technological gizmos, but these things are definitely part of the culture of the new and convenient things offered to the consumer en masse. That is something that I find a mixed blessing at best, and more likely a veritable Trojan Horse within our society, destroying the fabric of that very same society, at worse. Even on a global level, the so-called globalization. Yes, I try to resist.

I'm even skeptical of getting EZ Pass, and much of it, admittedly, was initial skepticism that they used such stuff against you – gave you a speeding ticket if they recorded times between tolls that would indicate that you must have been speeding. That sounded sneaky, and I did not like the idea. But I briefly dated a girl who worked as a toll collector, and she urged me not to get EZ Passs for an entirely different reason – it took jobs away from real life human beings, who were replaced by computers. How can they compete, after all? Funny, but at that point, I had been tempted to finally get the EZ Pass. But that renewed my determination to resist, although it is, admittedly, far more convenient.

I only had a lap top once, and it was a gift. There are tons of cool, impressive computer ware and such, really awesome looking or sounding apps that a lot of people around me had, but which I continued to resist. Perhaps, I took it to the extreme, who knows? But I know I don't just hop onto the next big thing like that. Never did care for fashion, and never did care for things to show off to all my friends and neighbors. Always tried to be conscious about refusing a lifestyle where I would subscribe to the mentality keeping up with the Joneses.

But lately, it began to feel like a real option, some of these things. The little tablet that allows you to read books from a computer, essentially. And it does not even hurt your eyes, but reads like an actual book! Now, that's something.

For that matter, I'm starting to think about buying a digital camera, so when I take a trip with my son later this month, I can snap some really cool snapshots (hopefully), and then download them, save them perhaps in my email or computer, and post them on Facebook, or something (yes, I do have an account there).

Hell, my brother got me a GPS for Christmas, and when I finally did get the chance to use it, it was amazing just how smart that little computer is.

So, I have given in. No, I am not about to start shopping at Walmart or eating McDonald's. But perhaps I am yielding on some things. At least a little ibt, yes. Particularly, really, with books (of which I have too many), and cameras. Digital cameras really are cool, from what I can tell about them – although I have never owned one thus far. But that might just change very soon.