Today"s Technology

 Last night, while I was scribbling some notes at Starbucks, a guy sauntered in, wearing a two or three day old beard, slid his backpack from his shoulder onto the long table normally reserved for physically challenged folks.

Then, slowly, painfully, his started unloading the contents of his bag, ostensibly setting up shop.

First a music player came out, along with huge earphones, the type you see pilots of 777's using in the cockpit. Instantly, he turned this device on, and out poured some bizarre music that conflicted with the satellite radio station the coffee house had on.

Next, a laptop was disgorged, activated, and his Yahoo home page sprang to life.

Not nearly finished, the cell phone came out along with at least two or three other gadgets, each being introduced to the table with ceremonial seriousness.

I got up and distanced myself from this endless parade of gizmos by seizing a table ten feet away.

There's a classical album called, "Frank Sinatra: A Man & His Music." Well, this dude's theme could be, "Joe Blow: A Man & His Technology."

Years ago, anti-materialists use to proclaim: "You aren't your car" and "You aren't your job."

I'm here to say, we aren't our technology, either.

I just returned from a vacation in which I didn't check my email once. It was an amazing thing because not only didn't I miss it, I didn't miss anything really significant, either.

Okay, there was one speaking invitation from Malaysia, where the inquirer asked for a rapid response, but it could wait until I returned. I checked my phone messages, but only once, and I did pick up an urgent one in the process.

Despite being wireless at every turn, more of us are getting entangled in needless technology, and centrifugal distractions. Do I need real time access to the entire Beatles' Songbook, which is in the process of being made available upon demand?

I don't think so.

There is a basic tenet of wealth, of perceived value that is being violated by all of these technologies and toys: scarcity and appreciation are positively correlated.

Ask any female reporter who strolls into a pro football or baseball locker room whether she is more appreciated there or at a place where there are a zillion others of her gender.

And the same logic informs the choice a lot of guys make to take up yoga. Suddenly, they're invisible to women no more!

But with proliferating plug-ins, the relative value of each choice declines, precipitously.

When you can see every "Star Trek" TV show ever made, along with the entire catalogue of reruns and films and documentaries from decades past, won't your reaction be little more than a blasé, "That's nice?"

I was one of the first people I knew to get a car phone because I consulted to the industry.

Then, having one was ultra-prestigious, but within a decade, as you know, everybody could afford one, and we all felt important being so accessible.

But the day is coming when the ultimate status symbol won't be which new machine you have tucked under your arm or in your jeans.

It will be when you make yourself increasingly inaccessible, as unplugged as possible, without penalty.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com [http://www.Customersatisfaction.com], is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, “The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,” published by Nightingale-Conant. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. Headquartered in Glendale, California, he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

For more information about coaching, consulting, training, books, videos and audios, please go to: [http://www.Customersatisfaction.com]

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