{"id":252,"date":"2012-09-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-28T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/philruiz\/do-you-remember-your-moms-phone-number\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T18:54:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T18:54:33","slug":"do-you-remember-your-moms-phone-number","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/philruiz\/do-you-remember-your-moms-phone-number\/","title":{"rendered":"Do you remember your mom\u2019s phone number?"},"content":{"rendered":"
LZ Granderson wonders if we\u2019ve been rendered a bit helpless by our technological advancements.<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
STORY HIGHLIGHTS<\/strong><\/div>\n
    \n
  • LZ Granderson: I hadn\u2019t manually turned off TV in years<\/li>\n
  • Granderson: I suspect technology has turned us into automated idiot savants<\/li>\n
  • He asks how many people can dial their loved ones\u2019 phone number from memory?<\/li>\n
  • Granderson: Technology has gone from assisting us in our lives to taking over our lives<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
      \n
    1. \u00a0(CNN)<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 It was late, the football game was over and I was ready for bed. The problem was I couldn\u2019t find the remote control..<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      It wasn\u2019t right next to me on the couch in my hotel room and I was too lazy \u2014 or drunk \u2014 to dig between the cushions to look for it. So after a couple of glances, I decided to just turn the TV off manually and worry about finding the remote in the morning.<\/p>\n

      I slid my hand down the sides, ran my fingers across the top, bent down and looked along the bottom and even tried tapping the screen as if it were a 48\u2033 iPad.<\/p>\n

      Nothing.<\/p>\n

      \"LZ<\/p>\n
      LZ Granderson<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

      Now, again \u2014 I had been drinking. But I don\u2019t think Jack and Cokes were the reasons why I had no idea how to turn the TV off. As I was fumbling around looking for something that looked like a power button, it dawned on me: I hadn\u2019t manually turned off a television in years.<\/p>\n

      Eventually I grew tired of looking and decided to just unplug the damn thing and take my drunken self to bed.<\/p>\n

      And this is what technology has turned me and I suspect many Americans into: Automated idiot savants.<\/p>\n

      Tell me, how many people with smartphones actually know their boyfriend\u2019s or girlfriend\u2019s telephone number and can dial it from memory? I\u2019ve been with my partner for three years and after the area code, I couldn\u2019t tell you a single digit that\u2019s in his number. We met one night, exchanged numbers and I haven\u2019t dialed it since.<\/p>\n

      Special series: Our mobile society<\/p>\n

      Funny \u2014 I used to joke that if I ever lost all of the contacts backed up on my computer, I wouldn\u2019t be able to call my own mama. Now I realize that I really wasn\u2019t joking. I don\u2019t know my mama\u2019s number.<\/p>\n

      Not only that, I don\u2019t know her address either.<\/p>\n

      I know where she lives, but if I was suddenly cut off from all technology, I would have to get in my car and drive three hours just to say \u201chi.\u201d<\/p>\n

      All of which brings me to this: For all of the wonderful conveniences technology has brought into our lives, there is something to be said about all of the little things that have been lost because of these advancements as well.<\/p>\n

      Like knowing by heart the telephone numbers of the people we care about.<\/p>\n

      Stopping in a gas station and asking another human being for directions.<\/p>\n

      Going to a record store.<\/p>\n

      I can remember spending hours with my high school friends roaming the Harmony House record store in downtown Detroit. The first 45 I ever bought was Bon Jovi\u2019s \u201cWanted Dead or Alive,\u201d and I can remember my black friends teasing me for liking \u201cwhite people\u2019s music.\u201d<\/p>\n

      Now, I am sure on some level I am simply romanticizing life before Steve Jobs. I am not against the technological progress we\u2019ve made \u2014 I\u2019m just trying to put it into context.<\/p>\n

      Technology can deliver a song faster to us, but there are some things in life that can\u2019t be rushed.<\/p>\n

      To this day, I still think \u201cWanted Dead or Alive\u201d is one of the greatest songs of all time. But more importantly, the interaction that came from purchasing that song as well as other conversations that occurred in that store over the years helped shape me into the person I am today.<\/p>\n

      You know, my son hates it when I tell him to grab a dictionary whenever he asks me how to spell a word he can\u2019t figure out with spellcheck. \u201cDad, just tell me,\u201d he would say. And I would say \u201cNo, otherwise you won\u2019t learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

      Don\u2019t get me wrong, spellcheck\u2019s a great tool and I use it. But it pays to know the long way in case you can\u2019t take the shortcut.<\/p>\n

      I have seen my penmanship become increasingly illegible over the past 20 years because despite being a writer, I don\u2019t really write. I type. And so over time, using a keyboard exclusively has led to a degree of atrophy in my writing hand. Now I can barely get through handwriting a personal note in a greeting card before noticing a little pain or soreness.<\/p>\n

      Some people may wonder what all the fuss is about. It\u2019s no big deal that I don\u2019t know by heart my loved ones\u2019 phone numbers, as long as I have them programmed in my phone. Right? It\u2019s easy and convenient and efficient. I guess I\u2019m wondering if technology has gone from assisting us in our lives to taking over our lives.<\/p>\n

      In a recent\u00a0Vodaphone survey, 54% of the responders said it was OK to pick up the phone while out to dinner and 57% said they\u2019d pick it up while going to the bathroom. But the thing that really got me is that 33% thinks it\u2019s OK to pick up their cell phone during sex.<\/p>\n

      SEX!!??!!<\/p>\n

      That\u2019s when I think this whole technology take over goes from being funny to a bit sad. (Unless they\u2019re taking pictures \u2026 in which case I say, carry on.)<\/p>\n

      If you liked this content please \u201clike and share<\/strong>\u201d\n<\/p>\n

      Phil Ruiz<\/strong><\/p>\n

      P.S.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      LZ Granderson wonders if we\u2019ve been rendered a bit helpless by our technological advancements. STORY HIGHLIGHTS LZ Granderson: I hadn\u2019t manually turned off TV in years Granderson: I suspect technology has turned us into automated idiot savants He asks how many people can dial their loved ones\u2019 phone number from memory? Granderson: Technology has gone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":333,"featured_media":258,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173,7,221],"tags":[806,548],"class_list":["post-252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advertising","category-general","category-technology","tag-do-you-know-your-moms-phone-number","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/philruiz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/philruiz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/philruiz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/philruiz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/333"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/philruiz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/philruiz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":307,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/philruiz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252\/revisions\/307"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/philruiz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/philruiz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/philruiz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/philruiz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}