It’s embarrassing to admit that I sometimes find myself getting frustrated by that I can’t find my car keys or socks and can’t Google to locate them. (Google, if you’re reading this can you do something about the locating my socks?)
Technology is a great enhancer and enabler. Apps and devices are great tools. Like social media, they can easily be both friend and foe.
Just last week I was upset with myself for forgetting a few things. I could’ve taken some measures to make sure I didn’t; I could’ve used my iPhone and created a list.
I installed Wunderlist on both my phone and MacBook Pro to help me manage lists and things to remember. I’m test-driving the app to see if it meets my needs in that regard.
One of my challenges is that I know I need some sort of productivity app and have little detail on what I need it to do. I have a general sense. I guess the more I use it the clearer I’ll be on my idiosyncratic needs I will be.
While thinking about managing me through technology and talking to friends about it I realized there are something technology cannot do for me. Despite my wishes that it would. It doesn’t matter how advanced tech gets with time, there will be something that it will never be able to do, only because it rest on me.
The things technology can’t (and might never) do for me:
Life
Technology cannot live life for me. Living life is my responsibility. Tech can be very useful in my experience of life but can and will never replace actually living. Accumulating gadgets and apps does not make for a greater life.
A greater part of our lives is what happens in us.
Technology cannot take a walk on the beach on my behalf…
Lists and People
While I can use apps like Wunderlist to draw a list of people to have coffee with, it cannot connect over coffee with other people on my behalf.
Me
Technology cannot make me a pleasant person. It cannot make me a person of integrity or give me a great character. It might help me put up a front or facade, but never really make me as a person…
Lazy / Work
Technology will not make me any lazier or diligent in my work. It can help in going in either direction. It is how I manage myself and use it in leading myself in a particular way.
Hits
Technology cannot be courageous in decision making on my behalf. As useful as it can be in the decision-making processes, it cannot live the consequences of my decisions and lifestyle choice on my behalf.
I must be in the ring and take the hits myself. It is part of experiencing life… Knowing fear and summoning courage to act against it…
Outro
Sometimes tech is doesn’t work like it should and I end up failing to do some things. When this happens I’m sure, like me, you consider the excuses this could equip you with… that’s for another time…
Technology can’t do some things for me. And I think this list might either get altered or become longer as I think about how I interact with technology in leading others and myself…
I’d love to know your thoughts…
Leading myself is not a responsibility I can delegate to technology [Click to Tweet]
this is brilliant – I’d love to use this as a subject for our Young Adults group. Amazing
Great! glad you found it helpful. I’m sure it would be a great subject for discussion.