Through the years, we've watched technology grow like a child budding into adulthood: It starts out mostly crying and pooping, then crawling, gradually learning to walk, and finally able to run at a speed we all wish we could keep up with. We've seen technology fail, and we've seen it succeed. We've poked fun at it when it doesn't make sense, and we've praised it when it's absolutely brilliant. We've yelled at it when it runs out of power, and we've fixed or replaced it when it gets run down.

We treat technology as a family member—even if that is a little co-dependent. You can't blame us, though; it's certainly made aspects of our lives easier: We're no longer forced to send letters through the postal service, book vacations through travel agents, shop in stores, visit the library for research material, or wait for our photos to be developed. Thanks to technology, all of these activities can be performed either digitally or online.

At the same time, though, technology can make life more convoluted—especially when something doesn't work right or doesn't do what it's supposed to: Say, for instance, a GPS device tells you to turn the wrong way on a one-way street (yikes!), or a computer erases all of your important data (ouch!).

Unfortunately, it's not always easy to understand how a product or service works, not to mention whether or not to hold off on adopting it until a better, shinier thing comes along. A perfect example is the ever-evolving video format. We've gone from Betamax to VHS to DVD to HD DVD/Blu-ray to just Blu-ray (and everything in-between, of course). It can take years before a technology catches on, and even more time before we see a significant price drop.

For the most part, however, technology does us more good than harm: It's reconnected us with old college roommates, helped us learn a foreign language, and encouraged us to exercise. Follow us as we look back at how technology has changed our lives—for the better and for the worse—in terms of communication, computing, dining, entertainment, and travel.

这些年来,我们注视着科技像一个小孩一样慢慢成长为一个成年人:一开始,它又哭又闹,然后它可以爬行,逐渐学习行走,最后能以一个我们希望能跟得

上的速度去奔跑.我们曾经看到过它失败,我们也曾经看到过它成功.我们曾经在它没有意义的时候取笑过它,也曾经在它大放异彩的时候称赞过它.我

们曾经在它筋疲力尽的时候对它大声吼叫,也曾经在它停步不前的时候修理或者取代它.
我们对待科技就像是我们家庭中的一员----即使它只有微薄之力.请别责怪我们,它只是让我们的某些生活方面变得更加容易一些.我们无须再费神的去

邮局寄信,去旅行社算帐,去商店购物,去图书馆查资料,或者等待我们的照片冲印出来.感谢技术,所有的这些事情都可以数字化或者在线解决.
但是同时,科技却又可能让我们的生活更加麻烦----特别是当某些部分没有正确工作或者不是按照事先设定的那样工作.比如说,GPS装置指引你行驶

到了一条错误的单行道上(晕!),或者电脑删除掉了你所有重要的数据(天呀!).
不幸的是,去鉴定一件产品或者一项服务工作的如何并不是一件简单的事情,更不用说去推迟使用它以等待更好的,于是麻烦出现了.一个最好的例子就

是曾经发展的视频格式.我们发展了从大尺寸磁带录象机到家用录象机到DVD再到HD DVD/Blu-ray再到Blu-ray(包括中间的所有格式).在一项技

术普及之前需要花费很长的时间,而在它的价格下降之前则要更多的时间.
但是不管怎么说,科技在很大程度上带给我们的是好处而不是损害:它让我们与以前的大学室友重新取得联系,帮助我们学习外语,还有促进我们加强锻

炼.让我们一起回望,看看科技是怎样改变我们的生活的----包括好的一面和差的一面----在交流,计算,餐饮,娱乐以及旅行方面.