Our Dependency On Technology

ByDr. Berney

Our Dependency On Technology

Yesterday was an interesting day, to say the least.

I started my day taking my son to school at the crack of dawn. As regular readers to this blog know, I really enjoy my early morning time; which often means that my wife takes him to school. However, there is nothing like our morning talks. Wow, what an awesome kid!

Anyway, I drop him off at school and head to Tampa. Not just Tampa, but downtown Tampa. I was subpoenaed to testify in the sentencing hearing of a criminal case I have been working on for the past few years. I arrive in time, but realize that I neglected to print out my subpoena, which means I have no idea what courtroom I am supposed to go to.

As usual, when caught in such a situation, I whip out my handy dandy iPad, connect to the public wifi, pull up DropBox and email, and BOOM, there it is. Courtroom 55S, here I come.

While testifying (I was the first on the stand), I have my iPad and laptop on the ready, in the event I need to reference any of my notes, testing results, or research that I have accumulated for my testimony. Man do I love technology. In fact, when I first realized that I had not printed the subpoena, and while I was waiting for my iPad to connect to the wifi, I texted my wife and said, “Great… Forgot to print the subpoena…” Which was immediately followed by my next text, “But I love my technology… :-)”

As my testimony concluded, I resumed my seat in the gallery and listened to the testimony from the defendant’s mother. As I sat there listening, I used my iPad to check my emails and my iPhone to communicate with my office.

The first response I get from my assistant is, “No Internet!! Yikes!!”

Following the mother’s testimony, I headed back to the office to see if I could help. The next four hours were filled with frustration, annoyance, and feelings that were certainly on the cusp of anger.

While my assistant could not gain any headway with our internet provider, somehow I got through to someone on the telephone and found out that our internet and phone provider changed. We were not informed of the upcoming change and had no idea it was happening on April 1 — not a very funny April Fool’s Day situation.

Long story short, the technician I spoke with informed me that I should not worry, “We have received a lot of calls today about internet outages.” Right, that resolves all of my worry… And by the time I left the office at 5:30, we still had no internet.

On some level, our dependence on technology is troubling. While my office family are FANTASTIC and figured out creative ways to navigate the problem so that the office could still function, several of us had no access to our schedule, chart notes, or email. We were, in essence, cut off from the outside world.

As we go through our day-to-day routines, we tend to take for granted our reliance on technology. The availability of information, literally at our finger tips, has become the norm. To run a “paperless” office sounds wonderful, until your access to those documents and files – which are stored offsite to protect from theft and damage – is interrupted by a corporate merger you had no idea was happening.

It makes me think of our children. The world they are growing up in is so different from ours. A short 20 years ago, when I started in this field, paperless offices were unheard of. We had a file for every patient, a page for every note, and rooms full of cabinets, color coded to keep things organized. Now, we can carry all of that information with us on an iPad.

There is no doubt that technology is amazing. It allows us to do things we have never done before. Access information we have never had before. But are we too dependent on it? Would you be able to function without it for a day?

I suppose this post was to serve as a purging of thoughts and frustrations from yesterday. However, it also serves as a heartfelt thanks to my office family, who adapted and adjusted to the limitations of the day, made all of our patients and clients comfortable, and kept the doors open even when it was not easy. Thanks guys!