Dr. Claw

Today I was all "What am I going to write about in my blog today?" and I even googled 'writer block for bloggers' to get inspiration.

I started to write my post, thinking I would use one of the creative prompts I'd discovered, and then I went on a tangent so I thought I'd just make it a post it itself.

How the hell did we function before the internet?

I totally know that we functioned, and we functioned well, but how effed up is it that we used to have to go to the LIBRARY in order to research things!? Seriously! There are people living in mud huts in the world, and I have this box on my desk, full of light and information and people and experiences. It's totally insane.

I'm an 80s child, and grew up watching Inspector Gadget. Remember Penny?

Look how cute and awesome I am!

Penny was totally bad ass. She had that book, which held all the answers to every question you could ever wonder. I wanted one sooo bad - it seemed so cutting edge, so technologically advanced, so intelligent. With a book like that, everyone would think I was the coolest girl in the world, and I totally would be, because I'd look up in my book how to be the coolest, and then I'd follow its instructions.

Enter: iPhone.

Today, while I was reading Half Broke Horses, the author mentioned Road Runners repeatedly and I thought to myself "Self! What the heck is a Road Runner, anyway?" I knew of the cartoon with the silly laugh, but I couldn't recall... was it an animal? A bird? I have no idea. But my iPhone and Wiki totally saved my life, as usual, and within three minutes, I knew the native origin, habitat, call, markings and way  more information than I would ever possibly retain, and I barely lifted my finger.

How many arguments have I won (I always win, after all - just ask theGuy) by googling something furiously and excitedly saying "HA!" While obnoxiously waving my phone in theGuy's face?

On another note: as if "googling" is a word!

We're so weird. We're so technologically advanced, and we're so lucky. When money is tight and I realize I'm going to have to do without something I want, I look around and appreciate all I do have. I don't NEED a cellphone, and I certainly don't need a magic-answer-box. I don't NEED a laptop to survive any more than I NEED a rice cooker. This generation of technology has made life so 'convenient' but these conveniences start to seem like essentials, when in reality, the gadgets that we have in our life are so amazing, the idea of them was unfathomably fantastic as children.

I wonder: if I were to go back to my child self, and put an iPhone into my tiny hands, would my brain have exploded with all the possibilities?

I'll get you next time, Gadget!