The good side of technology Internet Marketing for Internet Retail : The Preston Blog

The good side of technology

Filed under: personal |

Usually when I think of “technology” I think of my iPod, my Tivo, my Sony Wega HDTV, my Treo…you get the idea. These are all cool things. I love them - most of them either help keep me entertained, make me more efficient or both - but saying that any of them really make my life better would be a stretch.

Hearing Aid Technology
I saw a different side of technology tonight, though. My wife and I went to my grandparent’s house for dinner. My grandpa has bad hearing, but he can carry on a conversation with people he loves through the use of powerful hearing aids. A lot of people think that hearing impairment is a trivial handicap, but when Helen Keller was asked whether she would rather be blind or deaf she responded:

“Being deaf is a greater handicap than being blind, because people are patient and kind to the blind, but they are rude and cruel to the deaf.”

After that she explained that sight connects you to the world but hearing connects you to other people - thus it is more important. My grandfather is still an integral part of our family and other social circles because of the advances in hearing aid technology.

Better telephones
My dad recently installed a new phone in my grandparents kitchen. My grandpa was really excited because he said he could actually hear callers when they called and they could hear him. He puts the phone to his ear like a normal phone, but he always puts it on speakerphone when he’s talking. I witnessed firsthand the increased quality of life that a decent telephone can have as he called his sister to wish her a happy birthday (I think she said it was her fortieth 39′th birthday or something like that) and they had a short conversation where they could both understand each other.

In addition to the better phone, my father also set it up so when the phone rings they see the name of the caller on their television screen. As you get older and mobility is increasingly more difficult this is a nice feature because it allows you to screen which calls you want to get up to answer and which ones to let go (incidentally nobody answers when I call anymore - jk).

The internet
I have to admit that I always thought the internet was a product by and for generation X. At dinner, however, my grandparents told me that they liked to read news online because there were stories that they didn’t see on television and they didn’t have to wait for the news to come on. Even though they don’t understand the underlying technology at all (they told me that they don’t go to a website, they just go to ksl.com) they are using time-shifting technology just like I do when I’m using my Tivo.

Photo sharing
My brother, developer of the insanely popular iPhoto to Gallery application (I don’t know how popular it really is since I don’t use a Mac, I just thought it sounded cool) recently bought my grandparents a digital photo viewer that plugs into their phone line and checks every night for new photos uploaded to a remote server. It looks like a picture frame, but it cycles through pictures all day long. So when they’re going about their everyday business they will see new photos of their kids, grandkids and great-grandkids - technology connects them more closely to their family.

All of these things made me feel better about the industry that I’m currently working in (computer cables and accessories). I have always thought that technology’s purpose (and the hardware that supports it) is to increase business efficiency or for personal self-indulgence. After visiting my grandparent’s house tonight, though, I realize that it also increases our quality of life and can help strenghten our relationships with the most important people around us.

8:44 pm