Technophilia and Technologitis

Technophilia: Love (bordering on obsession) of technological gadgets.

Technologitis: Symptoms exhibited by a human whose technology has broken, crashed, misplaced data, or otherwise failed to function in the capacity expected. These symptoms may include anxiety, depression, headaches, nausea, insomnia, and /or sudden outbursts of profanity or frustrated ranting. Other symptoms still being documented.

Definitions from April's Unstandardized Dictionary of New English Terms

This week I have experienced both Technophilia (a word recognized by Spellcheck, by the way) and its evil twin, Techologitis.  The gadgets I own tend to not be the latest prototype or new thing to hit the market, and perhaps not as glamorous, but sufficiently modern (i.e. cell phone, laptop). This has served me well in getting better deals and letting the flops flop publicly before I invest in something potentially more trouble than it is worth (cough-cough-Windows Vista-cough).  I have longed for an iPod for awhile however (I am a music specialist, after all), and now the time was finally ripe to indulge in some new technology necessitated by the move and organizational needs of grad school.  Thus, the iPhone (3G) has become a recent acquisition and constant companion of mine, and I am enamored with it.  Finally, I won't lose my to-do lists, be calendar-less when writing down appointments, be lost in the city without a map, or be bored and have no music while studying away from home.   Among other things, I can also keep track of the temperature I am experiencing here (104F) versus my friends in Seattle (69F), check email, surf the web, and see what time it is in London or Seoul, etc. etc. 

 Here at the University technophilia is also quite evident; it is amazing how many class documents and interactions have now moved online to Blackboard, blogs, discussion boards, etc.  As I walk across campus, it seems that anyone who isn't talking with someone in person is on their phone, or texting, or plugged in to music, living in a parallel digital universe. 

  The other day, I finally jumped on the iTunes bandwagon to download some music that I desired, and after doing so (and creating two fantastic ringtones from Dvorak's American String Quartet No.12, might I add) brought my laptop home to sync it with the phone. Since I am currently handicapped by having no wireless internet at home yet, online errands have to be done on-campus. So, full of anticipation for the new music and ringtones I was about to make portable, I wake up the computer and... it crashes.  Screen flickers... Hard drive whirs, but... Nothing.    So, the music is trapped, and I also could not watch my Netflix movies since I have no TV/DVD player. Arrgh...

So now my laptop has been taken to the doctor and I impatiently await its prognosis. To pass some time between events and get my internet fix, I placate myself here at one of the campus computer labs in the company of a shiny new Apple, complete with widescreen, the flattest keyboard I've ever typed on, a platform that can run Mac OS or Windows, more Adobe applications than I've had in one place, and a USB port so well hidden that I have had to look hard to find it!  It is slick like a sports car, but I need and miss MY computer.    

Being cut off from the internet makes me paranoid about what I am missing, what with information being passed around so rapidly that announcements could be made about a class changing rooms or a sudden outbreak of the plague, and I would be in the dark and clueless. It's like the whole world is talking behind your back, or you're wearing earplugs and you can see that people are talking but you can't hear them.  

Time to get a flash drive and practice patience, I guess...