Okay, I'm gearing up to be an old stick-in-the-mud, but I have a pet peeve about electronics that plug into people! I don't dislike the ones that plug into wall outlets or speakers that are larger than a bowling ball, just the ones that clip on to a pocket or belt and plug in the ear.

It's not a prejudice on my part. Strictly speaking a prejudice is an opinion that is held without knowledge or data. I base my view on a practical truth. I have never met anyone who set out to change or improve their life from a position of comfort. When things are moving along smoothly, the name of the game is to go with the flow. Raise the discomfort level, however, and people can aspire to all sorts of inventiveness. They search and discover choices that they would not have imagined when they were mired up in their good feelings.

Electronics that plug into the body seem to amount to portable and continuous entertainment (music, video, or the person that I just left or will see in five minutes). When I go somewhere the be entertained (a play, concert, or movies), I generally use it as an escape from real life. For a few hours, entertainment puts my life on hold and I find a diversion that renews the self.

What happens to the continuously entertained mind is something else altogether. It isn't a temporary escape from the questions of life, it is life avoidance. When someone gets "unplugged" for the first time, their first observation is "I'm bored!" Are they? Is boredom really the absence of entertainment? It seems to be coming to that. A second alternative is to swear off entertainment long enough to allow some real discomfort. It's a sort of short-cut to getting a life.

That's my big pet peeve. Pace yourself on the electronic stuff. Use the things that you can plug into the wall, but not the devices that plug into you unless it's a cardiac pacemaker... (see, I am looking out of the old sticks-in-the-mud!)