Photo: Jimmy JoeMany improvements in technology shift the production possibility frontier outward. Many of these increase human happiness, and a few do this by increasing marital harmony (Viagra?).
One piece of technology my wife and I just acquired does all of these while saving that most precious of all things — time.
Our car’s G.P.S. device — Gertrude, as we call ours — led us from a rural road in Portugal back to our condominium with no hassle, no spousal arguments about which road to take, and no wasted time driving around trying to find the correct route.
I wonder how many other devices do as much to improve married life?
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My wife and I dislike using the GPS unit we were given for Christmas because it cuts down on the time spent looking at the map together and talking about which way to go. Half the fun of driving together is figuring out where to go!
The dishwasher would be my guess
Mine makes married life POSSIBLE. My wife, who is an extremely intelligent, savvy, self-sufficient woman, is so directionally challenged that it borders on a disability. Without a GPS, I fear she would one day fail to find her way home to me and the cats. Before she had a GPS, she would call me from the road to get directions. Needless to say, this was hazardous for her and frustrating for us both. Now the GPS just handles it. The same GPS remembered where I parked my car in Cologne, Germany (because it knew where I switched it to pedestrian mode) and navigated me back to it. Fabulous!
Duct tape. Old-school technology, but the very threat of its use allows me to drive unimpeded along rural backroads and byways, instead of taking the straight-line approach of the interstates preferred by my wife.
Dual A/C controls. I like it cool. My wife likes it warm. Not perfect, but better than just the one control before.
Noise-cancellation headphones. Do I even need to explain their wonderful value?
DVD players. My wife can now ride along watching her favorite shows or movies, while I drive along with my own glorious thoughts. Oh, and ear buds…this allows me to crank up Journey while my wife cranks up CSI.
Cell phones! I can talk to people who actually want to talk to me, instead of talking to my wife, which will always degenerate into an argument.
NEEDED MEDICATIONS: Some pill that will make it either easy for me or for my wife to take a long trip together and still enjoy being married to each other! HA!
Our marriage saver was the cell phone. Before that, we would have arguments over what it meant to meet at the bottom of the metro station. (I was waiting for her on the lowest level, she waited for me on the highest level.) After we got our cell phones, these arguments disappeared.
When we are on a trip, my wife navigates and I drive. We always get to where we’re going without arguments.
A GPS would have been nice to have when I was in California last week on a gravel road that, according to Google Maps, was supposed to be paved and was not supposed to lead to a dead end, when I experienced just such a spousal argument. Of course, it wouldn’t have done much good if the GPS was using the Google Maps database.
A TV remote once upon a time resolved the age-old question of who gets up to change the channel, saving lots of relationships.