Tom's TED Talk

     Last night I opened a twitter account. So first of all, my apologies to any of you who might have received an unwanted, unsolicited e-mail invitation to join my twitter feed.

     Honestly, I'm not at all sure I'm going to do twitter. Over the past year or two I've read maybe two hundred tweets. And I've never seen one -- not one -- that was worth the few seconds of time it took to read it.

     But last night I was reading an article on the New York Times website, and I clicked on the author's name, and it brought me to her twitter page, and up popped an invitation for me to join twitter. It just looked so easy. Why not?

     Well, nothing's as easy as they make it seem. But I powered through the questions, filled out the forms, opened an account, @TomatSightings, and even posted my first tweet. And I may or may not have sent out a mass invitation to everyone on my gmail list.

     But I don't know. Does anyone our age tweet away on twitter? Or it is just for tweens and pop stars trying to build their tween audience? I think the tweetiest tweeters are Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian and Katy Perry. And I don't want anything to do with any of them.

     As an aside, and on a more serious note, here's the link to a twitter page for 9/11 -- today is the 13th anniversary.

     So honestly, I don't know if I'll become a real tweeter. But I'm pretty sure I will not be buying a new apple watch. I haven't worn a watch since I stopped going to an office 12 years ago. I don't punch a time clock anymore. I don't need to run on anyone else's timetable. And besides, it's hard not to know what time it is at any moment of the day. The time is registered in the lower right-hand corner of my computer. It's on my cellphone. There's a clock in my car and one on the TV. And another in my kitchen, and in the bedroom, and pretty much in every other room in the house.

     But the main reason I won't get an i-watch is that I couldn't possibly see it. The numbers would be way too small for my aging eyes. Also, my fingers are probably too fat to hit the tiny numbers on a watch -- I can barely manage to manipulate the text message feature on my phone.

     And there's another thing to consider. A lot of older people shake a little bit, for one reason or another. How's that going to work when you try to call up an app on your watch? I don't shake. But I will admit that my hand-eye coordination is not what it used to be. I would have neither the fine motor skills, nor the patience, to work a smart watch.

     I doubt I'll be doing any mobile bill paying either. I don't understand what the big deal is about that. So you can pay your bills while you're driving down the street, or having dinner with friends at a restaurant.

     I don't know about you, but my bills can wait until I get home, and I take a few minutes at my own convenience to sit down and pay my bills.

     But just so you know, I'm no Luddite. I think one of the greatest -- and most unheralded -- advances in modern civilization is the ability to pay your bills online. No more writing checks, no more addressing and licking envelopes. No more stamps -- and at 49 cents a pop, that's not a small thing anymore.

     I also like ATM machines. No more bank lines; and again, no more writing checks. Now I know ATMs are not exactly new -- the first ATM machine was installed in America in 1969, and they came into common use through the 1980s -- but they are yet another convenience of our modern world. In fact, a lot of people hate their banks. I don't exactly love my bank (I've paid off my mortgage so I don't have to worry about that; but I wish I could get a bank CD that paid 5%, like my parents could; it would make my financial life a lot easier and more secure); but I've got to at least give credit to banks for producing (along with one financial disaster) a lot of financial progress.

     Also, I couldn't do my work, couldn't make whatever modest income I make, without a personal computer and Microsoft Word and e-mail and google and amazon -- and I listen to music on youtube, Spotify, Pandora and SiriusXM radio.

     So, yeah, technology has made our lives a lot more comfortable and convenient . . . and productive. But you can't do anything if the devices are too small, if you can't read the print or tap the right keys. I wonder if, technologically speaking, we're reaching the law of diminishing returns -- that despite Moore's Law which says processing power for computers doubles every two years, we're just running faster to stay in the same place.