When computers run the show

By Emily Hendricks

In some ways, I think technology has gone too far. Yes, technology has improved my life, through using the Internet to talk to friends and family, from Australia to New York.

But there is also a downside to our world being so technologically dependent: When technology fails us, we're left speechless and unable to complete the task before us on our own.

My grandmother and her friend, Ed, have a trailer at Fort Myers, Fla., one of the towns devastated by Hurricane Charley. When Ed went down to Florida to check on the wrecked vacation home, he reserved a hotel room and flight seat through an online booking service. His flight went all right, even though they lost his luggage, but when he went into the hotel where he thought he had a reserved room, he got a bit of a shock.

The hotel's computer system was down due to the hurricane, so even though Ed made the reservations online they never actually went through. He was allowed a room for one night and had to spend the remainder of his trip living in the disaster-stricken trailer without electricit or hot water, and with a leaking ceiling.

Here is a another example. I am a senior this year, so I am taking a few "lighter" classes, ones I don't have to take to be able to graduate -- just classes I have a personal interest in. My fourth hour, Contemporary Issues, is such a class.

The first day of school, I walked into the class and was joined by an enormous number of other students. As it turned out, the scheduling computer somehow gave the teacher two classes during the same hour. Even though the matter was resolved and soon forgotten, I don't think it would have happened if computers weren't running the scheduling show.

Please don't think I'm bashing technology to the ground. I think technology and its advances have saved my life more than once through all the medical intervention I've received over the past 18 years. Yes, I have a computer with Internet access. I have a cell phone, and I even have a little remote control on my key ring to lock and unlock my car.

I do depend on technology, just like most of the rest of the people in this country. But to what extent does our dependence become so extreme that we can't live without it?

Emily Hendricks is a senior at Central High School in Cape Girardeau.