Annmarie Throckmorton, M.A.
- Dec 14, 2018

Vroom, Vroom, Phffft

Some of my old friends (late seventies) recently treated themselves to expensive new cars but they cannot drive them because the computerized controls are too complicated., too flaky, too obscure, and the controls are too small to see.

I do not know what to make of this, except that my heart goes out to this couple. He was a commercial airplane pilot, she was a nurse and mother, and they both worked long and hard for their good life. Now their old pleasures are being phased out by new technology.

Although I too would like a shiny new car, excessive computerization such as the distractions of: internet access, navigation systems, wifi, bluetooth, keyless entry, remote starting, anti-theft systems, and tire-pressure monitoring, is the primary reason I have not bought one. My drab old car with very low mileage is easy to operate, although I have given up on trying to operate the new radio/CD player that I had installed last year. That component is heavily computerized and it is too flaky, too obscure, and the controls are too small to see. There is some setting on it that, if inadvertently activated, causes my car alarm to blare whenever and for as long as my car door is open. This makes me feel like an old fool. I had to take it into the dealer to have it disabled.