Every now and then technology has me wanting to pull my hair out. That is a strange thing for me to say, I realize that, but it is entirely true. Electronics and I get along pretty good most of the time. My menagerie of non-sentient buddies includes (but is not limited to) Lily (my phone), Roxy (my Xbox), Sophie (My PC), and Benedict (my MacBook Air). I have an iPod video I lovingly refer to Iggypod and an iPod touch I call Jim. My DS is Laverne and she spends a lot of time in my bag with The Copa Cabana (my external hard drive). I hope you get the picture. Electronics are my friends. I name them, I feed them electricity, and I give them all warm, cozy homes.

It is rare that I leave my house without some sort of technological wonder in my pocket or my bag. I quite literally feel lost without my Droid. I’ve become so used to having a GPS with me that I can’t find my way without it. I enjoy the feeling that if my car were to break down, I could call for help and not be stuck. There is just so much I enjoy about this modern age of connectivity!

Now, back to me pulling my hair out…

Every now and then I just want to be disconnected. I do not want people to expect me to e-mail them back in the same minute, hour, or day that they e-mailed me. If we were writing letters they would have to wait, so they can just wait patiently for my returned response. The fact that people get annoyed when I don’t answer my phone is also aggravating. You know, people used to leave their homes for hours at a time. If you were lucky those people had an answering machine that you could leave your message on, then when they got home they would call you back. It was a marvelous system! There was no serial texting for a response, just waiting. I am not saying the waiting was never annoying, but it was unavoidable.

Being disconnected can feel amazing. I love the idea of walking out the door and not have to worry about anything important until I come back home. Every now and then I manage to find that by wandering far enough into the woods, but even then I come back to text and voice messages wondering why I’ve been unreachable for a few hours. The answer to that question is simple: Unreachable is nice!

Take this as an official notice: I like unreachable. I will get back to people if they leave me a message. Multiple messages are not necessary. The more messages, the less likely I am to get back to people right away. I love my friends, but I also love sitting alone without the stress of constant connection. Think of it as a lesson in patience.