I’ve decided I’ve had enough new technology in my life. I have an iPhone 6 and an iPad Air 2. I could upgrade to Windows 10 if I want to but I don’t. There is an alarm on my house but I don’t need to turn it on and off from faraway places. There is Bluetooth in my car and I enjoy streaming video via Netflix and Amazon Prime. I still throw a CD into the player from time to time!

The newest and latest technology causes me stress. The gadgets and tools I have become obsolete too fast. I don’t want to have to keep upgrading my software and apps…they do well enough, thank you very much.

Unless the technology is to save lives or make our world safer, can we slow it down a little?

What I do want in 2016 is for people to return to a more civilized society. I’d like to communicate via telephone or email, not text and instant messages.   Let me see your face, not the top of your head as you focus on your smart phone. (I admit I do like Facetime to visit with far away friends and family).

Can we teach children how to spell and write in cursive? And grammar? Then they can write a proper thank you note.  Let’s spend time at dinner talking to each other, not with our noses in our phones and tablets.

Drones scare me too. I think they are cool for military use, rushing medicine to first responders and for real estate photography but I don’t want my house, my car or my person to be dive bombed by mistake. Does Amazon really have to deliver your book, shoes or whatever you ordered in a matter of minutes? If you are in that much of a rush there must be a shopping mall somewhere near you.

Google’s “Don’t be evil” left the station a long time ago. Akin to “Big Brother” it and all our social media networks know way too much about us. Our digital breadcrumbs are being collected with alarming accuracy and invasive intent. Can we draw the curtain on knowing everyone’s business all the time? Or at least lower it a little?

I think I am channeling 60 Minutes’ Andy Rooney. If you don’t know who he is, visit YouTube.

Happy New Year.