Confessions of a technophobe.

• Author: Robertson, Henry

Hi. My name is Henry, and I don't own a cell phone.

This reactionary stance is getting harder and harder to maintain, so I feel compelled to examine my motives. They're not simple. They're a mixture of principle and personal psychology. It's not just age. I'm pushing 60, but there are people much older than I who are more tech-savvy.

It's not because I'm a loser. Really. I'm an important person doing good things for the cause of sustainability. Maybe I should get with the program. This is the electronic information age. It's how we have to work--phoning and driving and flying and laptopping. This modus operandi is a short-term, high-carbon investment in a low-carbon future.

When are we going to get down to the real thing?

The personal

In part, it's fear of my own incompetence. I'm not a practical or mechanical person. Technophobia isn't so much fear of technology as fear of myself. Anyway, buying and mastering all this electronic gear feels like an imposition on me. I didn't ask for all this. I was doing fine without it.

I can see the advantages of cell phones, but I hate the way people use them. After all these years I still find it strange to see people walking down the street talking to themselves. Some can't go three minutes without checking their cell or Blackberry. Is something wrong with me or them?

I'm tired of being constantly subjected to conversations, not to mention the occasional screaming argument on the bus or train. Cell phones have certainly increased the amount of talk in the world. I don't think that's a good thing. Maybe it's the main reason people seem too busy for the political action and self-transformation that need to be done. Similarly, the internet encourages people to live in an unreal world, gaming while the planet burns.

Is it really more distracting to hear half a conversation than to overhear two people chatting with each other? An experiment by psychologists at Cornell University found that hearing a "halfalogue" (one side of a dialogue) impaired the cognitive function of subjects performing tasks on the computer, while hearing a whole conversation did not. Halfalogues were never normal before, so we notice them; or maybe we just want to hear the whole story.

The principle of the thing

The paperless office--we all know that's a myth. Modern electronics are supposed to be part of the sustainability revolution. But this is big business, and big business--the kind that aims at exponential growth compounding...