Keeping up with the Jones, and technology

The  old adage of “Keeping up with the Jones’” may have affected many lifestyles of youth, but now that we’ve retired “keeping up” with many things has been difficult. We will exclude the Jones and set our focus (such as it is) and substitute the word “technology.”
That word “technology” haunted me and keeps me busy as the newspaper industry continued to change. Unfortunately stepping away from the newspaper didn’t help. Technology followed us right into our retirement. Judging about the number of people walking around with cell phones stuck to their ears, we’ve come to the conclusion the world has passed us by.
You may have caught our little “little typo” when we claimed “cell phones” when all of you up-to-daters call them “smart phones,” as well as lugging around tablets and smart watches.”  In fact, we go back a little farther and use the word, “mobile phones” and take even another step into the past still remembering the old “bag phone.”
Personally, we’ve stuck with the old school. The Betterhalf continues to move forward while I refuse to have any kind of mobile connection. And you know what? We’ll admit we may have missed a few things by not having a cell phone, but it’s pretty nice having a few moments of silence where no one can reach us and not have our precious solitude interrupted.
Plus, with as much trouble of us not being able to remember where we’ve put the TV remote or the car keys, we can’t image trying to keep track of a wireless device, too.
***
“Look at that one – that one staring at us through the bars. Doesn’t he look intelligent?
“Yes. There’s something uncanny about it.”
“He looks at us as if he understands every word we’re saying.”
“Walks on his hind legs, too, and swings his arms.”
“There! He’s got a peanut. Let’s see what he does with it.”
“Well, what do you think about that! He knows enough to take the shell off before he eats just like we do.”
“That’s a female alongside of him. Listen to her chatter at him. He doesn’t seem to be paying much attention to her, though.”
“She must be his mate.”
“They look kind of sad, don’t they?”
“Yes. I guess they wish they were in here with us monkeys.”

RL Furse  is publisher emeritus of the News-Register