Ever feel like this?

I find myself adjusting my problems to fit the tools that I have at my disposal, when it should be the other way around.

In related news, I will never buy an iPhone or a Blackberry.

To begin with, talking on your cell phone in public makes you look like a douche, no matter how important the phone call is. Bluetooth technology only magnifies this.

Do not expect me to have my cell phone on me at all times. Even if I have my cell phone handy, do not expect me to answer your call. I'm not anti-cell phones, I just don't like this imposed social norm that I need to be reachable at all times. If you accidentally forget your cell phone at home when you leave the house, you shouldn't feel like an idiot, even though most of us do. I don't like that.

I don't ever want to be in a situation where work melds into my personal life. I have work hours and can be reached during those hours.

Most of all, the gift of gab is diminishing. The art of conversation is becoming less important. We have far too many filters, barriers. I'm a shy introvert, so all of these digital devices actually suit me, but I'm looking to rise above that limitation. Over the course of a regular work day, I see a mass of individuals in our cars, in our own worlds. I get to the office and I'm overloaded with emails, faxes, forms, and photocopies. I drive home and I see the same faces, worn out and beaten down by the monotony of our mcjobs. I struggle to find the humanity in all of this. I try my best not to see an unread email in my inbox, but an actual person sitting on the other end of the internet, typing that email. I try to identify with the concerns of their job. I try to understand that they have bosses, procedure, bureaucracy that they have to deal with just like I do. All of the technology is a test--are you able to see a person there, or do you just see some widget that needs to be dealt with? iPhones fuck with my head because it reduces everything you need to process into a handy little 3 inch screen. I'm tired of that. I'm tired of staring at a fucking monitor all day.

So, how does a person that uses Facebook, Twitter, RSS Feeds, blogs, etc. reconcile with all this? Besides a willingness to swallow a bit of hypocrisy, I do my best to achieve balance. I'm trying to live an actual life instead of simulating one online. Right now I'm in the middle of trying to achieve that balance, and my fear is that an iPhone would tip the scales the other way.