The Shallows

A quote in Nicholas Carr's book "The Shallows" caught my attention.
"Sometimes our tools do what we tell them to. Other times, we adapt ourselves to our tools' requirements."

This quote got me thinking. In todays society do we tell our tools what to do, or do we now have to always adapt to fit technology into our everyday lives?
The latter seems more true with the technologically advanced society that we now live in. Although we are telling our tools, laptop computers, cell phones, and many others, what to do, it seems like we must adapt to them to live our daily lives. They have become a necessity that make our lives liveable. Even kids today are learning to adapt to technology. People in years past may have never dreamed of cell phone use. Now teenagers can have a video conversation over their cell phone with someone miles away. But the real question is, does technology really have to take over? This brings into mind the idea of focal things and practices. Are they becoming extinct or are new ones being created? Technology has led to new focal things, but this doesn't mean that focal things of the past must be eliminated all together.

Technology has become part of peoples everyday lives, which means we must continue to adapt to it. The conflict of this question will however never be resolved. Society will always continue to adapt, while telling their tools what to do.