I've been thinking on how my life has changed because of the progress of technology over the last 10 years. Off the cuff, I would say that it's changed a bunch and for the better. I have so much information at my finger tips. It's great ! Or is it ?

Information overload
I deal with so much more information then I had to deal with 10 years ago. Access to information is easier and digital tools have evolved so much that it allows me to have more access to more information all of the time. Googling for podcasts about cycling while I'm having coffee at a coffee shop that has WiFi access on my 12" Powerbook. I've got this problem of how to deal with all this information. I never had this problem 10 years ago and it's taken me some deep concentration and time to learn how to deal with it. I am only recently coming to be able to deal with all the information.

Communication
This is a funny one, while I feel that I can communicate with anyone of my friends and family anywhere anytime it doesn't seem to happen as much as I think it should. Amazingly enough, I think I communicate less with others because of the fact that I CAN communicate with them so easily. Figure that one out. Also, I think others suffer from the information overload and my mails sit in their inbox for far too long.

More productive
In my recent getting things done movement I have taught myself to use my digital tools more effectively. I can be more productive personally and in my work by using the tools as opposed to the tools taking me over. I concentrate on eliminating all elements of my digital life that I can live without. For example, I recently stripped all the feeds from my RSS feeder that caused me to loose time. I found that I was falling into the trap of surfing without reason far too much. Now, I feel confident I can get through all my feeds and all my feed add something to my life.

A huge addition to my recent life has been podcasts and audiobooks. I fill all those gaps in my life with customized and personal content. While I'm training on my bike, commuting on the train or walking to work. I always have my iPod with me. I learn more and expand my knowledge in those hourly gaps.

Technologies have added the most to my life:

• Mobile telephony
• SMS
• Email
• RSS
• Search Engines
• Portablilty of devices (ipod, laptop)
• Digital photography

Technologies have been the greatest distractions to me adding more to my life:

• too much information
• too many choices - i.e. model of phone/laptop/camera/iPod/PDA versus what my real requirements are.

In thinking about this, I was expecting much more. I thought I would've been much more impressed with what has happened over the last 10 years. This is not to say that technology has not progressed - just my take up of it. I imagine most feel as I do.