Opinion: Begrudging technophile

It’s no secret that my initial reaction to virtually any new bit of technology is negative.

If you asked some members of my family, they’d say that’s my initial reaction to anything new, period. I’m not sure that’s true. I simply have a healthy skepticism about the value of certain new and improved gadgets and gismos. If a couple of tin cans and a string were good enough in the old neighborhood, why try something new?

I can be dragged into the 21st century, but only if I’m shown the value (What’s in it for me?) of whatever change is being made in the way we always did things. That’s weird, because I tend to dislike people who, when asked about some procedure in their work or professional life, respond, “That’s how we’ve always done it.” Maybe that just shows me to be a guy ready to do things most efficiently and effectively but not enamored of every change in the way we listen to music, view entertainment or news programs or talk with other people.

Evidence of my willingness to accept progress:

• Having worked with laptop computers (and even, sigh, a Blackberry) to send and receive material both in news and in public information work, I’d never suggest going back to the triple-carbon books and the manual Underwood typewriter that I still have in my basement. I’m still trying to understand the allure of Facebook and things like that, but toward the end of my news reporting career, I sure liked being able to sit in the press box in the South Dakota Senate and file updates on legislative action from my Apple computer through a wireless connection to the newsroom in Sioux Falls.

• Having used a cellular phone to make calls from a roadside park when I’ve had a flat tire or encountered another problem that would make me late for an appointment, I’d never suggest returning to public telephone booths. I think we overuse cell phones and their next-generation offspring, but in their proper place, they are quite the devices.

• And having seen the advantages of digital cameras, I’d never suggest returning to the four-by-five Speed Graphic that I used in Press Photography at South Dakota State back in 1963. I’m puzzled at the need a lot of people feel to capture and send every moment in their lives with the camera in their cell phones, but I recognize the value of instant access to a recorded image.

All of that is a way for me to say I liked the way South Dakota Public Broadcasting handled the final day of the state track meet last Saturday. I’m plumb nuts about track, but with no immediate relative in the finals this year, I let other things get in the way of going to the state meet. It isn’t easy to justify traveling halfway across the state just to enjoy something. It must be something about that Midwestern work ethic. If you’re having fun, you’d better have an excuse.

Nancy and I had a bunch of things to get done around the house last Saturday. If we’d had someone running in the track finals, we’d have been there, and I’m not sure how that stuff would have gotten done. It’s one of life’s mysteries, I guess.

As it was, we combined chores with viewing the finals. It isn’t quite like being in the stands, but we were out of the wind and away from the afternoon sun, and I could understand the announcer. We replayed the meet when some of the granddaughters showed up the next day. I took some good-natured ribbing whenever I would try to fastforward and end up with a screen that said “Delete? Don’t Delete?” The girls would yell, “Don’t touch anything.”

I finally turned the controls over to a younger hand. I would look favorably on a breakthrough in remote controls for fumble-fingered old folks.

Terry Woster’s columns are published Wednesdays and Saturdays in The Daily Republic.

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