I think there should be more to it than bare efficiency - at least in the part we consider 'private life'.
When is the last time any of you have seen a manuscript in its literal meaning - manually written! If you get a handwritten letter, would you be pleased and recognize that someone was caring for a personal touch - or would you curse about having to decipher handwriting instead of easy readible fine print? (Which would be so much more efficient and time saving <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin1.gif" alt="" />)
When somebody asks you the phone number of a friend - can you tell him off hand, because you know it by heart from regular dialling, or do you have to take out your mobile and look, because the only thing you remember is that he is Number 56 in the menue (or that he is somewhere in the menue, if you could only remember under which name/surname you saved him, and how was his last name spelled again?)??
Those who say that machines can be more efficient, or facilitating life, or giving us time to do other, more pleasant, things, are right in a way -
IF...
...if we think about, and remember, why we are using technology.
Because HEF is right also, I believe, in too many instances we automatically use technology without thinking about it, and without realising what we are losing (the ability to memorize for instance, see above), or worse - the ability to live without it. Great regional power blackouts can give you surprising insights! (do you know where in your household a torch lies? With batteries still working? Or candles? And where is a lighter, you modern healthy, non-smoking man? And is there fuel/gas in it? - Got any matches, anyone?)
