Priorities

Technology. With each coming day we add more and more technology to our daily lives. More computers, more cable/sattelite channels, more Web sites. Where do we draw a limit and will we ever draw a limit? Is technology taking priority over other things in our lives? ... perhaps a lot more important things?
Those are all fine questions ... but either way here is my story.

The situation I am about to describe took place on a Wednesday afternoon. As sad as it sounds it is true. I attended an Internet service installation call at a residence in the housing complex for people on financial assistance from the government ( i.e. people that generally barely make it and should be 'strapped' for money).

Once I have arrived a woman opened the door and invited me in. She looked roughly about 40 years old, not that age has anything to do with it as I am sure person of other age could have done the same thing. Two small girls were also present in the household. I would say they were roughly 5 years old and 3 years old. I proceeded to take a look around the house to see what I was about to face [in terms of work to perform the installation].

After checking the computer I advised the customer that unfortunately the computer did not meet minimum requirements to run broadband service and will have to be upgraded in order for me to install the service. The woman seemed quite dissappointed and said that she will have to call us back to reschedule the appointment. Less than 2 hours of me leaving the residence the woman called me back and said that she got a different computer and requested for me to come back to finish the job and install Internet service for her.

One other call was cancelled that day so I had no problem coming back and doing the job. So, I went back. As I was installing the service the woman mentioned how lucky she was to get such a great deal on the computer that had all the features to run broadband service ( i.e. enough RAM, processor speed, network card, etc.) and she only spent $200 on it. What took place next shocked me, but it was not my place to make any comments or was it? The older daughter approached her mother and the following conversation took place.

Daughter: "Mom, I am hungry."

Mother: "Go eat some cereal."

Daughter: "But I don't want cereal. I had it this morning."

Mother ( Noticebly irritated voice) : "That's too bad. We don't have anything else right now."

Daughter: "Can you cook something?"

Mother ( Yelling) : "Are you deaf??? I told you we don't have anything else right now and we are not getting paid 'till Friday from welfare so go eat some cereal and shut up."

So at this point my question becomes "Where are your priorities?".
Is the Internet service really that improtant to you that you are willing to spend $200 that same day to get a different computer so you can get Internet vs. going out and buying some food so your daughters are not starving?
Is the technology ruining our sense of responsibility and priorities? Or we ourselves becoming "screwed up" and cannot control ourselves with our wants and totally ignore our responsibilities as parents and as humans in general?

Anyway, that's my rant for the day. Perhaps this situation only seems strange to me, but for everybody's sake, especially for those who yet cannot take care of themselves, let's set our priorities straight.