By Maggie Pieper

Apparently the average teenager spends 55 minutes on Facebook every day; I spent five minutes on my Facebook last month. Eighty-six percent of American high school students own iPods; I have no iPod, but a trusty CD player. My music collection does not exist in an iTunes library, but in stacks of CDs and vinyl next to my boom box. I am not afraid to say that I do not only dislike technology, but I also fear it. I do not contain the adequate technological skills that my peers possess. I am simple like the devices I prefer to use. 
    My room looks average, containing a bed and a dresser, but instead of an iHome, a technics turntable sits in one corner of my room, and instead of a computer, a 1976 typewriter is on a small table. I live in the past technologically because I prefer the old ways. I like the ring of a typewriter at the end of a line; I like the crackling sound old records make. 
    Besides my preference of older devices, my fear of technology is also an influence. I fear that music that exists as a title on an iTunes screen can disappear too easily and I would not know how to retrieve it.
Instead of buying music instantly I make lists and buy used CDs at Amoeba because I can hold the CD in my hand and really know that I have it. I could not begin to imagine exactly how a computer or an iPod really functions, but I do understand how a vinyl record plays. I suppose I am scared to work with things that I do not understand. I need to have a clue about what I am working with so that I have an idea of how to fix things. I do not know what macro is or what hard drives do because computers require a specific vocabulary that I do not comprehend. I feel less competent when other people have to fix things for me, so as much as possible I stick to what I know and work with devices I can manipulate.
    As technology changes, I do not. Every day I am surrounded by people who can edit videos and work computers in ways that I do not comprehend and ways that I do not care about learning. I do not do things that require me to be technologically advanced. I do not feel the need to go on Facebook every day. I get by just fine without unnecessary gadgets. Yes, certain gadgets may be savvy, but in my case they are an unnecessary burden.