Can't Live if Living is Without You

I've been asking around about smartphones - as soon as my stupid contract is up I'm gonna get one - and the general consensus from anyone who owns one is that they wonder how they ever lived without it.  It got me thinking about all the high-tech things we own that make our lives easier, and what would happen if we were forced to give them up.  For instance, I wouldn't like it, but I could give up my dishwasher.  You could definitely take away my alarm clock.  And I've gone this long without an ipod.  But there are just some things that I could not, would not, be able to hand over.  Like my microwave.  It's essentially my stove.  Or my DVR.  Granted, I watch entirely too much TV, but with the DVR I can watch it on my own time!  Or my laundry sorter.  So a three-bin canvas laundry basket isn't exactly high-tech, but I could never go back to doing laundry without it. 
What could you give up, and what wouldn't they be able to take away over your dead body?

8 comments:

Robyn said...

Really Sheil, no iPod?

I absolutely, positively could not live without e-mail. Especially in my line of work. E-mail cuts way down on having to type stuff up and talk to actual human beings. Plus I don't know how people kept track of all those faxes and letters back in the day. Monstrous paper trail = waste of time AND trees.
I could easily, however, ditch my dishwasher. I don't believe in them.

Sheila said...

Stupid cell phone carriers and their stupid contracts and their stupid rules about which phones they carry - I want an iphone and I want Verizon. This is America, why can't I get both!?!?!?

Anonymous said...

If I had to choose one piece of technology, I would say that I can not live without my DVR. I can't say that I even know what time the shows that I watch are even on. I just watch them whenever I want. Now I never miss an episode of Lost, The Gilmore Girls, or Cop Rock.

I guess that my #2 would be netflix. I am addicted to netflix. I have seen many great movies that I would not have seen otherwise:

Who Killed the Electric Car
Sicko
Jesus Camp
The King of Kong
Walk on Water
Joyeux Noelle
The Lives of Others
Eulogy
Who the #$&^ is Jackson Pollack
God Grew Tired of Us
Downfall
Super Size Me
The Motorcycle Diaries


With that said...I think that I could also move to Alaska and live off of the land like Richard Proenneke (if you haven't seen his documentry...look it up...it is worth it).

-T

Anonymous said...

Speaking as someone who hasn't had a dishwasher in 13 years, I really wish I had one. But obviously I can live without it.

Could NOT live without a washer and dryer though. I went the first 10 years in the NYC area without one. Laundromats SUCK! I don't miss those Sunday afternoons.

I live on e-mail. And IM. And my friends' blogs. :) It's an obsession. Could not give up my Mac.

Anonymous said...

AND my car. Didn't have one of those for 8 years either. I could never go without one again.

Carcich said...

Powerbook, Cellphone, DVR, in that order....nosehair trimmer, not a neccesity,but sure is nice.

Carcich said...

Spellcheck IS however a NECESSITY.

Jim said...

I'm with you on the DVR thing (I dedicated a post to the topic on my blog - I think that's called "cross promotion".) I feel like I never watch live TV anymore. Not sure it's a good thing always. Isabella (2) thinks now that anything she watches can be paused.