I once read a book about a child living in the future. He never left his house because he didn't need to. The book started out with him talking to his teacher and to some of his classmates but they weren't in the same room. They were communicating through their computers. Later in the book his mom went shopping but she didn't leave the house. She did all of her shopping over the computer and her purchases were delivered to her house.

When I read that book over 15 years ago it was a very far fetched idea. What at the time seemed so impossible is now becoming more and more of a reality. Children still go to school but many college students don't. We still go shopping for most things but it is becoming more convenient to buy things online.

I was just thinking about all of this as I have sat in front of a computer for the last 6 hours without moving at all except for to go and get a drink. I haven't really left my computer for the last 4 years except for to go home from work. Many people go right home from their computer at work to get back on their computer at home. I imagine that it won't be too long before I am not even required to go to work because my company will just have me work from home. It would save my company a lot of money and my manager really only communicates to me through email so it would really be no different. My job is already based on my performance which is already monitored electronically.

Think of the money this could save schools and businesses. They wouldn't have to provide large buildings to house their students or employees. They wouldn't have to provide expensive parking in busy downtown areas. There are obviously some things that would have to be worked out to make this possible but the financial savings would be incredible. It would make us more efficient and we would have more time to get more accomplished.

Now I would like to know how much longer are we going to continue to try and make ourselves so efficient that we ruin everything that is good about living here on this earth? Can you imagine if you would have stayed home to do your college education rather than moving away and living on campus? What if you never had the opportunity to work with some of your friends that you have worked with over the years?

Now instead of imagining, I will ask a couple of questions that pertain to right now. When was the last time you read a good book or called your grandparents? I would imagine that some of us spend a significant amount of time in front of the T.V. or the internet. I'm not old enough to remember what I did before there was T.V. but I can remember what it was like before the internet. How did we live without it? What did we do with all of our free time? What did we give up in order to have so much time to use it? The same questions can be applied to the T.V.

My purpose of this is not to say that technology is a bad thing. I am just trying to say that as we try and make ourselves more and more efficient we are actually distancing ourselves from some of the things that make us truly happy. We live in a world where technology is going to continue to advance and there will be more and more things to take our time for better or for worse. How are we going to use our time?