My mother-in-law was visiting from out of town recently and my wife and I went with her to the local mall to do a bit of shopping. While in Belk department store, her I-Phone made a cha-ching sound, like the ringing of an old time cash register. I thought that was an interesting ring tone choice, but didn’t give it a second thought. Bored of shopping and in need for an Americano, I walked down the mall to the Starbucks and met up with my mother-in-law as she walked into Dillard’s. Cha-Ching! Again, I think the ring tone is interesting and decide to ask why she chose that particular one.

“It’s not my ringtone; it’s an app that sends me the latest coupons for any store that I enter,” she explains.

“So you just received Dillard’s coupons just now and earlier when I was in Belk with you, you received Belk coupons through your phone?” I ask for clarification.

“Yes, isn’t that fun?

“Or horrifying, and I think I’ll go with horrifying,” are the only words I could muster. Wow, I am shocked by new scary technology every day.

I think it’s creepy that anytime I’m on the internet, “they” are tracking me and placing ads all over the sites I visit based on items I have checked out during previous visits. And I can’t tell you how much my computer junk mail sky-rocketed the day I turned 50 as I am now on every medicine, health care, and over 50 dating site mailing list in the world. Crazy.

While not quite as paranoid as Joe A. about Big Brother (I only put tape on the bottom half of the camera lens, just in case I’m not wearing pants), with the recent advances in computers and cell phones I have to admit, I too feel we are racing towards a society with thought-police and tele-screens. I mean if we already can send coupons to people as they enter specific stores, how far are we away from the app saying we aren’t allowed in that same store because of our color, political party or religion.

Well I’m safe, because even as everyone in my life continues to mock me, I hold onto my flip phone (mostly because I know where all the buttons are and don’t have to put on my reading glasses to operate it). When Big Brother starts rounding everyone up with the GPS on their phones, I will be the only truly invisible person walking right there in plain sight. I will be a technological survivor. In fact, I could be the father of a whole new society!

Scratch that…  I had a vasectomy. Bummer. I guess there will be no hope for society.