Machines Make It Easy - To Weep
A 32-year-old man in Portland, Maine, was fined $5,433.09 and given four years probation for shooting an automated teller machine because it wouldn’t give him any money.
Frankly, I think he should have gotten a medal for doing something all of us have been sorely tempted to do at one frustrating time or another.
Mind you, I’m not suggesting we all should strap on a six-shooter before our next swing by the bank machine, but think about it honestly. How many times have we made the statement: “If I’d had a gun, I’d a blown that sucker away!” And meant it!
Confess. How many steam irons and lawn mowers would be buried in the back yard at this very minute if we’d carried through on all of our threats? How many television sets would have been sent to their glory (if we wouldn’t have had to clean up the mess and buy a new one) when our team didn’t win the big game or some clown came on smarming us with hemorrhoid ointments during dinner?
Mechanization, automation, computerization - all those “ations” are turning us into a society of frustrated folks.
Helplessness is the key word here. We’re talking stainless steel and wires with not a human in sight to listen to our complaints or answer our questions.
And tell me, when was the last time you won an argument with a vending machine? Kick it until your foot falls off, but you get no satisfaction. It keeps your candy bar, your 50 cents, and doesn’t even flinch under physical abuse.
The printers in our school’s computer lab are high on my list of “Things I’d like to shoot today.” They are old (in printer years), ornery, and definitely not kid-friendly. I spend at least a third of our lab time on my knees poking at their innards with a straightened paper clip and silently swearing at these infernal inventions that are supposed to be making my life easier. On occasion, in a fit of pique, I’ve even thought of dropping one from the second-story window, but with my luck with machines, it’d probably land on the principal’s car.
Airport credit-card-call telephones are high on my hit list. I’m not sure that I’ve ever gotten one to work. I’m in between planes. One flight has canceled, two others were overbooked, and I’m frantically trying to reach Uncle Fred, who’s meeting me at the airport at the other end of the line. And the telephone and I have a misunderstanding about which numbers to punch in when. I lose! The machine wins. Every time!
The truth is simple and we need to admit it before it’s too late. People are social animals. We need successful and fulfilling contact with other human beings. No machine, no matter how slick or “user friendly,” will take the place of a live person who knows my name.
When I go to the bank, or buy a bottle of pop, half the pleasure of the transaction is a friendly voice saying: “Hi, Elizabeth. How ya’ doin’ today?” or “This is my new grandson. Just got the picture today.”
The old system may be slower but it was designed for people - that’s us. Remember?
xxxx