First, a confession… This year I got suckered into watching Celebrity Apprentice because of Rod Blagojevich. It was like a horrible accident you couldn’t turn away from. And the main reason I watched – besides the endless amusement Blago generated by proclaiming his innocence to anyone and everyone – was his complete incompetence with technology. In one episode Rod sat at a table for a lengthy bit of time before confessing he didn’t know how to turn on a computer. But the show really got good when Blago became project manager… and was fired.
The men’s team lost for the third straight week. To viewers, it was likely because Blagojevich gave his team little-to-no direction. As viewers saw last week, Blago is basically unable to use a computer or send a text message. While in Orlando, he could not call his team on the phone while he was around Victoria’s Secret model Selita Ebanks–the project manager for the women’s team–without her disovering his team’s “strategy,” which was virtually nonexistent on his end.
It was quite amazing, but obviously not that unsual.
Ben Nelson admits he has never used an ATM…
The Nebraska Democrat pleaded ignorance when asked this week whether Congress should cap ATM fees. Nelson said that while he’s no fan of unnecessary fees, he’s unfamiliar with the charges.
“I’ve never used an ATM, so I don’t know what the fees are,” Nelson said, adding that he gets his cash from bank tellers, just not automatic ones. “It’s true, I don’t know how to use one.
“But I could learn how to do it just like I’ve . . . I swipe to get my own gas, buy groceries. I know about the holograms.”
Even our Supreme Court Justices – some of our smartest minds – are completely baffled by technology…
The first sign was about midway through the argument, when Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. – who is known to write out his opinions in long hand with pen and paper instead of a computer – asked what the difference was “between email and a pager?” *
Other justices’ questions showed that they probably don’t spend a lot of time texting and tweeting away from their iPhones either.
At one point, Justice Anthony Kennedy asked what would happen if a text message was sent to an officer at the same time he was sending one to someone else.
“Does it say: ‘Your call is important to us, and we will get back to you?’” Kennedy asked.
Justice Antonin Scalia wrangled a bit with the idea of a service provider.
“You mean (the text) doesn’t go right to me?” he asked.
Then he asked whether they can be printed out in hard copy.
“Could Quon print these spicy little conversations and send them to his buddies?” Scalia asked.
How is this possible? How does a person never send an email, or a text, or use an ATM? And this isn’t about age. My parents are in their 70s and they’ve been sending emails and using ATMs for years. This strikes me more as a resistance to technology, and, given the rapidly changing technological world we live in, being uninformed about basic technology strikes me as a huge detriment – especially when the technologically-challenged are making and enforcing laws concerning ATM fees and text messages.
Perhaps this is the true disconnect in Washington.