“低科技” 是我前天(五月三十日) 在Tower Oaks演講分會所做的演講。。。句句屬實呀!

Low-Tech 低科技

5/30/2012 at the Tower Oaks Toastmasters Club

#1 of ‘Entertaining to Inform’

Please raise your hand if you don’t have a cell phone.… I think I am the only one here who is well qualified to talk about this subject… ‘low-tech’. Mr. TMOD (Toastmaster of the Day), Fellow Toastmasters, distinguished guest(s) and our dear Advisor Mary Ann Guerra, DTM, who came all the way from GEICO headquarters.

Many of my co-workers here guess that I was born in the 20s because I don’t carry a cell phone. And, to tell you a truth, my dad who lives in Taiwan does carry a cell phone and … he was born in the 20s.

One of my teammates Imran once challenged me by using his iPhone to make a phone call to Vasa, another teammate of ours. Uh… Hmmm… Of course, I took the challenge. I looked at those beautiful icons on the screen of his iPhone, easily accessed to the phone book, searched name, and keyed in the last name to search … then … I found out its GUI (graphic user interface) was not user-friendly at all, … too small for my slim figures… At least it’s full of challenges for the first timer like me to enter the letters from the tiny keyboard… my fingers were dancing/tapping on his iPhone. But, anyway and anyhow, finally I made it … it took me 2’36” to make a phone call … That’s one of my cell phone stories.

What’s more amazing is … my two teenage boys don’t have a cell phone either… Yes, that’s true… But they do have individual’s MP3, iPod and iTouch.

I have not worn a watch for at least more than 10 years. I can get the time from almost anywhere (PC, Car, at work, at home), why do I need to wear a watch to confine myself, to make me uncomfortable? In case I do need to know the time, I may always ask ‘excuse me, do you have time?’ I found out this phrase “excuse me, do you have time” is the most effective way to start a conversation with a stranger.

A powerful and portable GPS in my car? NAH! Does anyone like to hear the repeated machine voice of “re-calculating… re-calculating…” from a gadget? Why do I need a GPS to tell me what to do if I can drive a car and know the direction to my destination? Plus, I don’t need a back-seat driver and front-seat noise.

How about an iPAD? Mmmm … my co-worker Imran did convince me to purchase one before my vacation to Taiwan, with one of his 10 sales pitches. He said “you can easily access to internet at the airports and in Taiwan.” I bought it and… I agreed Imran was a good salesman!

I did show the iPAD to my dad the way to take a picture, shoot a video, view the pictures. He loved it too. Now, I carry my iPAD almost everywhere I go.

Still, I am stubborn with the belief that as long as I can live a happy spiritual life, why do I need to chase the never-ending advances of high tech?

BTW (by the way), I still don’t have a cell phone.