Is the e-device the new norm?

May I start by saying that I love technology and I’m all for technological advances and love it when I have a new gadget to play with.

In saying that…

I also love having some time (occasionally) with physical things rather than the electronic version or the latest i-Device. A perfect example of times I love being technology free is when I’m reading a book. I do, from time to time combine reading and technology and read an e-book, and I do enjoy that experience. But more times than not, a physical book will be my number one choice.

On the train this morning, I was reading a book…a real one with pages and a spine. The next thing I hear, the young boy sitting in front of me (who I’m guessing was about 4 years old) turns to his mum and says “Mummy, why is that lady reading a real book? Isn’t that what an iPad is for?” Well…that surprised me as much as winning the lottery without a valid ticket would have! Here we had a toddler who was questioning my choice of reading material. His mum was apologetic for his interrupting my quiet reading time and she went on to tell me that the reason he was so shocked by me having a book was because when he’s at home, he only reads eBooks. His mum believes that the way technology is going, everything will be electronic before too long and she wanted to get him used to this idea.

This made me think about society’s reliance on technology. Is the e-device taking over good, old fashioned physical things? Thinking back to when I was younger, books with illustrations, and pages with different textures to feel and scents to smell; no electronic gadget can replace this. Here we had a toddler with such a grasp on his way around an iPad, but doesn’t own any of the beautiful storybooks on offer for children his age. Not being a mother myself, I sent a good friend a text asking her thoughts because she has a young son around the same age as the boy on the train. She was very much in line with my thoughts that technology is great, but so are physical books and trips to the library.

Our expanding need for technology goes beyond the latest book, but everything is being made easier by technology, but we’re losing touch with past-times my parents and grandparents never gave a second thought about. Letter writing and receiving cards in the post has very much been replaced by social media and text messaging, flicking through photo albums with Grandma has been replaced by photos being stored on phones and laptops and (as my dad always points out) reading encyclopedias to discover new information has been replaced by trusty Google. I admit all these improvements do make life easier and have probably given more to life in this day and age than anyone can fully appreciate, but sometimes we just need to go back to basics. Sitting on a cushion with a book or photo album and no gadgets in sight. Keep our eyes on where we are headed, but lets not forget where we came from.

Where is the line?

I had an interesting phone call with a customer service representative earlier.  This customer service lady, who we’ll call Vanessa (not her real name), works for a company who I’ve used basically all my life, but have very rarely called their customer service line and have never spoken with Vanessa previously.

At the beginning of our conversation, it was all very much like what you’d expect.  Vanessa asked me to verify my personal details (full name, date of birth, postal address and mobile phone number).  After I gave her all my details to check I was who I claimed to be, our phone call got a little more interesting.

After asking me what the issue was that I was calling to discuss, Vanessa responded with “Oh, I’m sorry about that Nat, let me take a look…”  That almost stopped me dead in my tracks.  When I verified my name earlier in the phone call, I addressed myself as Natalie Smith.  My legal name (minus a middle name).  She took it upon herself to assume I was happy with Nat.

I’m the first to admit that my family and friends call me Nat all the time, my name on my Twitter account is simply Nat and even this blog is ‘The Nat Diaries’.  So aside from my Facebook account and more professional LinkedIn account, across the majority of my social media presence, I am known as Nat.  But to me there’s a line.  A line that says ‘this is where shortened versions of names end and people refer to me by my proper name’.

Personally I believe this line is somewhere around where people are more of an acquaintance rather than a ‘friend’.  When I meet someone new, I will introduce myself as Natalie 99% of the time, and then once I have that first impression or get talking to the person, I may add in “just call me Nat”.  The exception to this, is if I already know someone in that family really well who already calls me Nat, and I’m just meeting their husband/wife/brother/sister/kids etc, then, Nat is perfectly ok from the onset.

Back to Vanessa, she falls into none of those scenarios.  I have not met her before and also know no one in her family (I don’t know any Vanessa’s so I’m sure of that).  So according to where my line falls, Vanessa is someone I’d generally expect to call me Natalie.  However, clearly Vanessa’s line is much finer than my own and that raised its own dilemma.  Do I interject and put the emphasis on Natalie? Do I sigh and hope she catches on? Or, do I just get over it?  I had no idea how to approach it, or even if I should.  Every time I could, I added my name as Natalie back into the conversation, and just hoped she’d follow along. She didn’t.

It made me think though, are we that relaxed as a society that representatives from businesses that we interact with can use shortened forms of our names? There are certain ‘professional’ type people who I am happy with using Nat – my doctor who has treated my family since before I was born (and has known me all of my 23 years) calls me Nat, the pathologist who takes my blood calls me Nat (but she is also a friend, so I’m not sure she counts!), my boss at work calls me Nat and our team call him a shortened version of his name in return. These are all perfectly acceptable in my opinion because it is something both them and myself are happy with and generally my interactions with these people are long term.

Maybe I have to reconsider where my line stands…just maybe.