My Life as a Cyborg

Ugh! Writing this title causes an unpleasant shudder to wrack up my spine. I suppose the shudder comes in because, to me, the word cyborg ushers forth images of Aaaarnold, and creepy, emotionally-blank people garbed in what looks like material with a close relation to both electrical tape and tinfoil. If you like that sort of thing, more power to you, but despite my soft spot for Terminator 2, cyborgs are not for me. They are so cold, so sterile, so terribly... modern.
The notion that we (humans, at least Western humans) have become a variety of cyborg, offends my traditional bent. I'm 23, but I've always had a lurking suspicion that I should have been born about 150 years ago; not that I have a problem using, and appreciating modern technology or anything (unlike one of my aunts who shall remain nameless; I don't have a problem working my VCR...or a at least I wouldn't if I had one that still worked. Sadly it died of old age just last year. And yes I do realize that a VCR isn't exactly "modern", but it was what came to mind. ). I have a very real appreciation for indoor plumbing and electricity. Still, as useful as much of the newer technology is, I often feel that I use it mostly because I have to, or I'll risk getting left behind (that and Facebook is ridiculously addictive). Anyway, I have always felt that if I had been born in a time before the computers, the Internet, and satellite TV, I wouldn't miss them. Really! Well, probably. Maybe.
Just give me some books, some paper, and some writing utensils and I'll be happy as a shepherdess playing her lute in a meadow. But wait. As we discussed in class, aren't all of these things, at least to some extent, trappings of technology...
Surely I couldn't be....surely I'm not...not...a cyborg? [Cue the organ music and a blood curdling scream...or whatever horrified auditory equivalent comes to mind.]
It gets even worse, I'm afraid. I have been known to wear glasses from time to time. I even had contacts for about a year, until I tired of poking myself in the eye each morning. What's more, I have fairly terrible vision, and I went through elementary school experimenting, often not by personal choice, with a variety of magnifying and distance-assisting visual aids. Talk about being technologically enhanced! Although...the monocular does make me feel like an old-school pirate perched high up in the crow's nest of a ship with a telescope.
I don't have an iPod, nor do i particularly want one.
But I do have a cellphone. And although I don't exactly suffer from a fit of hyperventilation or missing-limb syndrome if I happen to leave without it (not quite, at least), I am much more comfortable if I have it with me, or near me at most times. Not only is it a texting device, aside from a phone, my cell functions as my watch and my alarm clock. So, I rely on it pretty heavily. Without it, I would probably never get to class on time, possibly not even at all.
But the real piece of technology that makes me fear that I too am reliant on machinery, is my laptop. Best intention ever. Imagine, a computer that I can haul around the apartment with me. I read books on it, watch movies on it, talk to friends and family on it, occasionally play chess on it, and generally find ways to fill and/or waste my time on it. Possibly most importantly of all, it contains copies of most of the writing that I've scribbled at over the last five years or so. I don't exactly bring it everywhere with me. But, when i go out of town and can't bring it along, I feel decidedly uneasy; as if I were a parent leaving my 15-year -old home alone for the weekend. I know that I probably shouldn't worry, but...who knows what could go wrong. Maybe it will throw a ruckus party and burn down the apartment or something...Okay, maybe not.
I guess what I'm long-windedly trying to say, is that, like it or not, I find that, given how my classmates seem to feel about their own technological trappings, there is a huge amount of truth in the notion that people have become cyborgs, or part-machine. And I am no exception, despite my wishes otherwise, I too am a cyborg. Although, I think that I prefer to be called Technologically Reliant