THE 'ELECTRONIC' ASSUMPTION

I’m sure that you have heard the symbolic definition of the word ‘assumption’. This being-'Ass-u-me’ (deeper explanation hopefully not needed). Be that as it may, we have now moved into the era of the ‘Electronic’ assumption.

It seems that the world has taken on the belief that everyone now utilizes devices such as the “Crackberry”, oops, I mean “Blackberry". Well, that is not the case. I, for one, still use my trusty Franklin book organizer. The last time I checked, it does not have plug-in, synching or battery features.

Case in point: I recently drove out to see a client (not a short distance, I might add), only to find that my client was quite startled to see me. I asked him why he was surprised as we had set the date of this meeting a week ago. He indicated that he had an emergency come up and that he had sent me an e-mail an hour prior asking for a re-schedule. As I was not anywhere near my computer prior to my departure, the message never reached me.

He thought that for sure I should have seen his e-mail on my PDA. (WHAT PDA!!!) I simply pointed to my aged organizer book. He was incredulous that I was still using “such an ancient system”.

First of all, I do believe that I am not the last person on this Earth to use this form of organization (which does, believe it or not, have a calendaring section). Should anyone bother to note the volume of such systems sold at places like Franklin-Covey stores, Staples, Office Depot, etcetera, it would be revealed to them that while I seem to be a member of a decreasing population, there are still millions of us around the world still utilizing such a medium.

Second of all, I see that more and more people have grown a certain disdain for that instrument invented by one, Alexander Graham Bell. This is especially prevalent in the Generation ‘X’ or Generation ‘Y’ (or whatever alphabetical moniker is assigned to those “younger folks”), who text, instant message or, in only the remotest of circumstances use e-mail. But NEVER seem to think of using a tele-phone!

God forbid someone should pick up a phone and actually have a voice-to-voice conversation with another of the same species. NOTE-yes, I have a cell phone, however it is just a cell phone. I did not opt for the features that would have me find my car in a parking lot or know where the closest Proctologist is located in my geographical area.

The world needs to be a bit more respectful to those of us who have elected to not have a ’24-7’ device grafted to our hip. Isn’t a cell phone’s accessibility pervasive enough?

Len Merson,
Founder, C.E.O.
Chaos Over, Inc.
1-88-VERY CALM (Toll Free line)
619.980.7372 (Direct line)
Lmerson@chaosover.com