Technology Has Run Amuck - I Just Don't Get It!

If you're new to reading my blog, then be warned. On Sunday mornings I ALWAYS step away from imaging and marketing.

Today is a typical Sunday morning. Sheila's still asleep, I'm up early, typing away with Molly the Wonder Dog refusing to get out of her bed and come over for her morning scratch behind the ears. It's just too early. I woke up trying to decide what to write about, but as I checked my email, it immediately became apparent.

I'm trying to understand what's happening to us as a society, and it's all based on Amazon's email this morning and the push to sell me "Dash Buttons."

Up until ten minutes ago, I didn't know what a dash button was.  

I was living what I thought was a perfectly normal life.

​I love Amazon Prime, along with shopping online in general. We're having a blast with Echo music throughout the house, even though it took three months of working with Amazon's rocket scientists to get the music to play continuously without cutting out at random. Sheila gets all her books online either hard copy or for her Kindle. And nothing beats the Internet when we're impulse shopping for something we decided was a "must have."

But buying dash buttons" for most of the products we shop for at Costco, Sprouts or the local Publix Supermarket leaves me with one big giant "WTF?"

​Have we become so lazy, a trip to the store is too much to handle? The concept behind a dash button is whenever, for example, your supply of paper towels is running low, you'll press the button, and they'll automatically be reordered for you and on your doorstep a day or two later.  ​They have a dash button for hundreds of products, even Goldfish. 

I feel like Rip Van Winkle! I've been asleep for the last fifty years and just woke up. When did it become a challenge to make sure your home stays stocked with Goldfish?

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But there is a glimmer of hope and improving the quality of life for thousands of families. It's Amazon's suggestion we have a Charmin dash button right by the roll of toilet paper in the bathroom. The dash button revolutionizes one of America's greatest crisis moments - homes across the land running out of toilet paper! 

Even better, imagine a trip to a friend's house. They're really GOOD friends, and over the years you've played a few practical jokes on each other. But now it's payback time. All you'd need to do is find their dash buttons. For example, a few dozen hits on the Charmin button and in 48 hours they'll have enough rolls to last for years!

So, I'm sticking with the system Sheila set up. She has a scratch pad on the fridge called the "shopping list." What a concept!

When we're running low on something, we write it down on the list. Once a week or more we make a supermarket run. Sometimes we go together, other times it's a solo trip for one of us. Somehow we manage to keep food in the fridge, the pantry and even our supply of paper towels and toilet paper survives. And, it's a fun social experience, not to mention everything we come back with that wasn't on the list, but things we had a taste for and bought on impulse!

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Sorry, but at the risk of sounding like an old Andy Rooney episode, the concept is stupid and I just don't get it. I don't want buttons all over the house I can push to auto-reorder. I like running out of things. I enjoy going to the market. I don't need to turn consumerism over to Amazon.  But then, I'm also the guy who doesn't understand people spending $3000 on a refrigerator with a camera hooked up to your phone, so when shopping you can double check to make sure you're not out of butter!

And there you have it; a Sunday Morning Reflections post that shows my age and lack of appreciation for new technology. But here's at least one thing they can't put a dash button on - the love you have for your family and friends.

Make it a great Sunday. Appreciate everything in your life that can't be filled with the press of a button and then go for those "manual" eleven-second therapeutic hugs. Wishing you all a day of peace, time off and moments to enjoy everything that makes you and your life unique.

​Happy Sunday!

Note: All images are screen shots from Amazon.com's "Dash Button" page