tech

Tech fallback means asking, "What happens when the tech fails?"

Okay, so, it's the twenty-first century and all that. Tech's proceding faster now than it ever has at any time in human history. We just keep taking all these neat things we've learned and wonderful toys and tools we've made and combining and recombining them into newer and more wonderful things. Good times, huh?

Well, along with all of these amazing developments comes a new danger. Namely that of addiction to our technology.

Think about it – most people don't.

So you've got a GPS and think you don't need to learn how to navigate by stars or read a map? Well, what happens when your battery dies (or the satellite network dies) or the signal is being blocked by a hostile force? Don't need to keep in shape ('cause you don't ever have to lift something heavy, and you can always drive to get where you're going)? Well, what happens when you get pinned and have to lift something heavy? What happens when your car breaks down or you can't get more gas?

Don't get me wrong, here, either. I'm not some kind of crazy luddite survivalist who wants to burn books and smash the tubes (you know, the ones that the Internet is made of?). In fact I'm just the opposite--I've got a real crush on science and technology.

The point is, as we become more and more reliant on our newer and newer tech, we run the risk of atrophying our older (lower tech) skills. Coming to depend on tech leads straight into the trap of What Happens When the Tech Stops?

Preparedness

I was never a boy scout, but I've always agreed with their notion of being prepared. Kind of like not having all your eggs in one basket, you can set up your mind (and life) so that you'll have options, or multiple levels of redundancy.

That way, if the tech loses its functionality, you're not caught with your pants down.

These options I'm describing can be built up in a number of different ways.

Technology Fasting

We are surrounded by our creations more or less non-stop from birth (and before, depending on how you look at it). A lot of this stuff gets taken for granted, and like I said earlier becomes an addiction for us.

By consciously (even if only periodically) limiting the direct influences of technology in our lives, we are able to limit our reliance on such things.

Try this some time: cut out some tech that you use regularly. Take the battery out of your cell phone for a day or two, unplug the TV, park the car, leave the computer-machine off, cut your circuit-breaker.....whatever.

All of these things have become so ubiquitously pervasive that many of us wouldn't be able to function (much less know what to do with theirselves) without the steady emanations from our trusty devices. This is a powerful exercise for two reasons. Firstly, it quickly makes it apparent just how much influence these contraptions exert over your life. Secondly, without them, life still does go on. By fasting from these devices, we are able to practice living without them for awhile, and can find new ways of making life happen.

Tech Fallback

Limiting and controlling the direct effects of tech in our personal lives can be rewarding and educational, but cutting out the tech completely is not the only way to bolster your defenses against the potential hazards of too much technological reliance.

Make backups.

Substitute one kind of tech for another. This has the benefit of broadening your skillset/toolset for dealing with life, as well as diversifying the conditions you can acclimate to (e.g. your GPS may've quit, but your map probably still works–maps are tech, too, and by having both available (and knowing how to use both), you have just doubled your potential tools).

Just about anything can be done in more than one way, and as we (humans) discover new and better ways to do things, the older methods and tools sometimes get dropped by the wayside and forgotten about. This is bad, because it limits your opportunities.

Backups and alternative methods for doing things provide you with different options, and levels of redundancy. All have to fail before you are totally screwed.