Are you USING your technology?

There's using technology and then there's USING technology. It's similar to grade school when a boy would say "I like Olivia, I don't LIKE Olivia." With the lowercase, we just have the power turned on and check our email or run a few computations. With the uppercase, we're pushing the limits of the power supply and computing infinity divided by Pi. (which on a different blog would make for a funny commercial)

So are you or is your organization really USING technology?

I was recently at a co-working event put on by Entrepreneur's Entourage when a man sat down with us ("us" being 5 entrepreneur's with phones out and laptops open) and proceeded to layout his "laptop". Ten, pink Post-it notes were stuck to the table in a flow that really only this man understood. He was writing a book and this was his technology. The oddity struck us all, but it's how this man worked.

He was engaged, he was passionate and he USED his technology to it's potential and in a creative way.

As I type this, I have two computers and three screens running. I'm typing, conversing, coding, monitoring, listening and creating, but I'm not sure I'm using my technology to it's potential. Do I have so much technology to help me achieve more? Am I able to do more than I could with just one computer and one screen? Maybe this post will end up being an endorsement for cloud-computing, but I challenge you to sit back for a minute and think if you're really USING your technology to it's potential? Are you using it to complete tasks and make customers happy? Are you using it to create and share knowledge while learning at the same time?

Are you using it to play Bejeweled on Facebook?

Common medical wisdom puts our brain capacity at 10%. That's how much we "use" to remember things and get tasks done. As humans, we do not know how to use more of it. We might break if we use more of it. With technology, we tend to know it's limits. Sometimes technology can be pushed, but still within certain parameters. Knowing that, are you USING your capacity? Are you USING your technology?