Technology has overtaken the world and is either one’s worst enemy or best friend, yet one must “log onto” websites to transact simple business.

Taking time to assess just how much the internet is needed after my computer stalled, I determined that even toddlers are tethered and places of commerce are made safer by cameras and recordings.

When my sons were small, there were no baby monitors that allowed parents and baby sitters to hear what was going on in the “nursery.”

Essentially, unless one had money, the nursery was a corner of the parents’ bedroom, just a few steps away from the kitchen sink.

I learned a lesson then that stays with me now, a toddler who is awake but very quiet is usually up to no good and poop can be used as finger paint.

A big lesson each of us needs to learn is vigilance. I would have caught the budding artist sooner had I checked in on him and painting over the cleaned area was expensive.

That task has been greatly enhanced by technology, with cameras showing up in unexpected places.

A problem with that is taking images off the tape.

A blurry image of someone in a hoodie won’t be of much help but it’s a start.

Again, simple human vigilance is necessary.

Growing up in Alamosa, I didn’t lock anything. People would be trusted and generally they could. That was in the middle and end of the last century, before heroin, meth and opioids hit the street.

I eventually learned not to trust so easily when important items simply disappeared.

The resulting lessons have stuck with me as I look back on items lost to theft. People steal things and in this time tinged with widespread drug abuse, there’s a market for them.

The burglar is often caught and punished, but what about the “fence,” the person or persons who buy stolen items for peanuts and resell them for good money? I have yet to see an individual going to trial for reselling stolen stuff.

Even my stalled computer would bring money for a person needing another “fix” and the fake Rolex, if stolen from my bedroom, would probably sell on the street for more than the $10 I paid for it at the flea market.

The theft of small things recently hit home and it would be laughable if it weren’t for the end result.

I had taken to keeping a small coin purse key chain attached to my car console with three dollars worth of quarters in it, should emergency ever strike. Attached to it was the key to a storage unit.

It was taken from my car while it was parked in front of my house, key and all.

No problem, there was another key and, besides, the location of the lock could not be determined from looking at the stolen key.

The spare key was lost when we moved.

No worries, the lock could be removed with a bolt cutter. No way, it was a fancy round lock specially made to be burglar proof.

It cost $20 to have a really nice fellow come and cut off the lock.

The lesson? Keep keys to important items in a safe place.

A huge lesson came from getting my computer going again. The operating system had been opened up by a virus from an application I no longer use. Whoever hacked my computer lives someplace in the Denver metro area and got nothing for all the effort so finding out who he or she is would prove costly and serve no purpose.

I’m still re-installing programs I need and it’s not without cost.

To say I’m paying more attention to my surroundings goes without saying and my appreciation for technology has been enhanced

We are all tethered to technology.