Trends in Technology

    I've noticed something that seems like a distressing trend in technology.  It doesn't seem to be about work much anymore.  I've been trying to talk myself into or out of a tablet for months now.  The main reason I would like a tablet is because I preach and teach quite a bit and it would be much easier to speaking notes in computer form than constantly be looking for a working printer from which to print.  I've decided that a Windows-based tablet makes the most sense for me.  I went looking to see what other kinds of apps were available to help me decide.  My google search brought forth the typical list of "the 33 Best Apps for your Windows Tablet" and "The 10 Best Free Apps for a Windows Tablet."  The majority of the apps were games, social media, or entertainment.  Very little was about actually getting stuff done. 
    I use a laptop.  Getting a second monitor is one the most effective time saving tips imaginable.  It enables me to work on a sermon or newsletter article on one screen and have the Logos Bible Software or an article up on the other.  I went looking for a second monitor for the Apple computer.  I found very few that were smaller than 27".  The one I did find didn't work on the Apple (another story).  It seemed that most external monitors are designed for viewing movies.  Their proportions seem to mimic the proportions of a cinema screen.  monitors designed to entertainment purposes abound.  Monitors for utility purposes do not. 
    All that leads me to wonder if we are not, in the words of Neil Postman, "Amusing ourselves to death."  I'm not suggesting workaholism or some puritan ideal that the computer is a tool and should only be used for productivity.  But computers are largely solitary devices.  If they are used increasingly for amusement purposes it means that our play time is increasingly private time.  Playing together is one of the chief ways people develop bonds of friendship and connection.  Give me a few good productivity apps and a small monitor but after that, let's go enjoy the park together, or a museum, or a movie in a good old fashioned crowded movie theater where our hands can brush up against each other as we share a tub of popcorn.