by Jerry Riley

I may have done a column similar to this before, but, due to the curse, I’m not sure. My favorite curse is technology! I used to keep all my published columns in a computer folder. When my computer crashed, this folder was corrupted and not all of it was saved.

I know, losing my column file isn’t the worst thing technology was, and is, doing to many aspects of human life. It seems just easier to listen to or watch a book, rather than read the words. Reading allows the imagination to make the pictures and allows a young, or old, mind to expand.

Spell check can make our correspondence more accurate. Auto correct is nice but often correctly spells a word you did not intend to use. At the same time, it may be impairing our ability to spell. It always seems interesting to me that, although we cannot spell the word, we usually can recognize the correctly spelled word.

Pocket calculators may be among the first. Increased use of calculators may keep generations from learning the basics of arithmetic.

I know technology is making life better, but, it may also be eroding the basic things we may need when the electric grid breaks down. What other education basics are we going to not learn? We have successfully allowed technology to change reading, writing and arithmetic!

Global Positioning Systems are making map reading an unnecessary skill, …well, for now. And what a revoltin’ development this is!

Jerry Riley comments for the News Bulletin. He is a retired telecommunications supervisor.

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