The View From Here . . .
By Bob Morgan, Jr.

Since this is written during the Memorial Day holiday weekend, it might be time to take a break from the usual fare of this column to discuss a lighter subject - how some new technologies are changing our daily life. (One serious note. Our nation would not exist if it were not for the sacrifices of the soldiers that we honor on Memorial Day. Let us never forget.)

One obvious key new technology is the cell phone. While cell phones have been around for decades, it is only in the last ten years or so that they have become an almost indispensable part of life in America.

Yes, I know that the coming of the cellphone age has not been an unmixed blessing. Anyone seated next to an interminable yakker on a train, for example, does not need to be reminded of that fact. Many people in business do not necessarily want to be available by cellphone 24/7 to colleagues or clients. And not everyone is enthusiastic about cell towers in the neighborhood.

But cellphones provide great advantages. Drivers carrying cellphones in their car enjoy a significant measure of security in the event of possible criminal activity or if there are mechanical problems in a remote area. Parents can monitor their preteens or teenagers and be in immediate communication. (Of course, this has the decidedly mixed side effect of encouraging young phone owners to send endless text messages to their friends, but the phone is still a net positive.)

Moreover, many of life's interactions are greatly facilitated by the cellphone. To use two common examples. If one is running late for a meeting, a quick call helps everyone know the situation. Even more crucial is if the party receiving the call is not otherwise reachable, for example waiting at a restaurant or a sports event. Cellphones also eliminate the search for payphones, which can be difficult to find, inoperable or grungy. At hotels, cellphones virtually eliminate the need to use the room phones, which often extract outrageous surcharges for calls.

Another great advance in the last few years is the rise of internet search engines. The one great problem with the internet when it first became prominent is that it in effect lacked good road maps. Now, however, Google and its competitors have made navigation very easy.

Search engines, of course, enable a wide variety of information to reach a wider audience. It is perhaps a mixed blessing, but it is now common for people contemplating business (or even personal) relationships to do a computer search relating to the other party. On balance, however, the wider flow of information is a good thing.

I must say that I have been a significant beneficiary of the search engines in writing this column. When I launched The View From Here in 1995, I had to check every statistic or quotation I used by hand, which is often a laborious process. Now, however, whenever I want to know the United States unemployment rate in 1997, or the exact text of a paragraph in a speech by President Bush of Senator Clinton, the results are just a few clicks away. The only caveat is that I do try to check any crucial statistic or quotation in two trustworthy sources. With search engines, I can spend more time writing and developing the piece and less time hunting down information.

Neither cellphones or internet search engines may make the list of top 20 most important inventions, but on the whole they make early 21st century life significantly more pleasant.