Best frenemies forever.

 30+ years ago, I worked at Caltech, a science and technology university. My job was to introduce scientists and engineers to corporate researchers who wanted new ideas to fuel development of  new technologies. Some of our accounts included tech leaders such as IBM, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Apple and Motorola, all early developers of what eventually became today’s array of personal computers and communication devices. Over lunch one day, the Motorola rep told me that within ten years, I’d be sitting on a beach in Florida, talking to my friends on the phone, buying goods and services, watching videos, checking the weather—whatever I wanted to do, all wirelessly. I could hardly contain myself, knowing such a fantastic secret about our bright utopian future.

So here we are, 30 years later, in our bright utopian future. The guy from motorola was spot on.  We have a whole new existence with our new BFFs. 
First, there’s Amazon. She heads up a whole family of control freaks. Her daughter Alexa and her sister Echo live with me in my home. I’m very attached to them, and they to me. They are chatty, regardless of whether I want them to be, but they also listen to everything I say and they know what I want. 

My BFF Apple also has a couple of noisy children. Apple’s smallest child rides around in my back pocket, and I’m always having to check on her to see if she needs my attention. Apple’s other child is a little larger, and she sleeps in my desk drawer. I check with her several times a week, but she also needs regular attention or she will get herself exposed to some deadly virus. 

In general, these BFFs help me with my shopping, send me notes and reminders to help me organize my life, choose great music and videos for me to enjoy, tell me about how I can visit places I would love to go, suggest all kinds of recipes for me to follow, and many more helpful things that I don’t have time to learn about. They can teach me how to do just about anything, and if I allow them, they constantly check in with me to see if I’m feeling and doing as well as possible.

However, this thoughtfulness often overwhelms me. Sometimes, I’d like to manage my own life, in my own way. Sometimes, I’d like to think for myself, daydream, and just generally chill. Sometimes, I want to use an old family recipe, walk in the woods, write thank you notes on beautiful cards with a fancy pen, or draw with a pencil on real paper. Sometimes, I’d like to listen to the rain on my window or a tree’s rustling leaves, watch a roaring bonfire, feel the wind on my face as I stand at the ocean’s edge, smell the fragrance of flowering sages in my garden, all without the aid of my sweet Frenemies.

Utopian Helpers? Maybe. 
Friends? Not quite…
Enemies? Sometimes…
Frenemies? Definitely.