The addiction of technology

At the end of last week I noticed that my laptop was running hot (lap burning hot) and then realized from the widget meter on the desktop that the processor was running at 100%. I shut down all programs to try and fix the problem, to no avail. I did a restart and had the same issues and as a result was not even able to run a system utilities program to check for a virus. I brought my laptop (life with buttons in a small box) to a local computer repair shop. They called me within hrs to tell me that they believed that the fan, temp sensor, and probably the motherboard were all bad and further diagnostics / replacement & repair would cost more than that computer was worth.

I was in UTTER TERROR at that thought that I may loose my computer. I was a Boy Scout most of my youth and in the Army for 8 years. I've been trained to exist and persevere in most conditions that can be found on Earth, yet at the thought of loosing my precious laptop and everything in it, I nearly acted as if I'd been told the world was about to end. The computer place called me back the next day. They told me that business was slow and that they had time to play with it a bit, since it was believed to be a lost cause anyway. They told me that they found the only problem was the fan and it could be replaced for a reasonable dollar amount. The clouds lifted and I smiled the smile of a happy man, my baby was coming home.

What I realized from this experience was that I am way too chained to my technology. Between blogging, email, banking, investing, gaming, "Googleing", and any other purpose I can think of not to mention my iPhone and all that it does. I have an addiction and the scary part is that even though I can acknowledge that (first step in most addict programs or so I'm told), I can't imagine and can't say that I would want to give any of it up.

Does technology make us more efficient and capable or doomed to a future of reliance on gadgetry and the possibility of something made famous in a certain "Governator" movie we all remember?