This column comes to you not from a typewritten copy, but from dictation. I have spoken these words into a microphone attached to a headset. The device takes my spoken words and puts them on my computer screen.

Thanks to Dragon Naturally Speaking, a software program that picks up my speech, I no longer have to typewrite words such as you are now reading. This process continues to amaze me, since it does what I used to think impossible.

This technology forms part of my work life, as do many other devices. These gizmos were unimaginable until recently. Now, they play a daily part in my normal activities. They have become familiar companions, much like the refrigerator and the microwave.

If you had walked into my small home office recently, you would have seen wires stuck in my ears. That’s because I was listening to music on my iPod. This device, smaller than my hand, enables me to record my CDs and play them whenever I wish. It counts as one more recent invention that figures in my daily life.

Together with a scanner, a cell phone, a digital voice recorder, a digital camera, a copier and other innovative devices, Dragon and the iPod have formed a magic circle around me. All of this has happened to someone who is not technologically sophisticated. It amazes me to find myself surrounded by gadgets that help me do my work or find pleasurable entertainment.

Had anyone predicted, years ago, that my life would be so marked by the use of technological aids, I would not have believed that person. It has come as completely unexpected to see these things working for me.

Apparently, Barack Obama feels the same way. As all the world knows by now, he feels so attached to his BlackBerry that he could not bear to give it up, even when pressed in the name of security.

As for me, I am a man of tradition, a classicist for whom not all innovation is welcome. In the face of modern technology, I frequently feel mixed. Immensely helpful as it can be, this technology can also pose dangers.

For one thing, some devices can eat you up. For example, you can spend much of the day fiddling with e-mail or computer games rather than doing any real work. You can devote hours to such programs as YouTube or Facebook, turning them into addictions.

More subtle than this, technology has the potential to devour your soul. It can turn you away from reflection and contemplation. It can become impossible to concentrate on anything other than your favorite devices.

Watching television, in living color and high definition on a giant screen, can be mind-numbing. The images may be splendid, but the programs you watch are often banal. And this activity has a way of drying up your own creativity.

I sometimes feel myself at the mercy of my technology. When devices don’t work as they are supposed to, it causes me grief and it can ruin my day. Let my computer malfunction, and I feel my head tighten and my emotions clog.

Mind you, I love technology and would not want to go back to the time when the devices had not been invented. Yet, I continue to feel wary of a world that is controlled by technology. The specter of surveillance cameras on every street corner, for instance, worries me.

Our technology can keep us away from other people. We can spend so much time sitting at our computers that we don’t have any left to spend with family members and friends. When that happens, we become modern hermits without going into the desert.

I admire, and even envy, the masters of technology. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and other pioneers have served us well in their inventions. And, turned philanthropists, they deserve thanks for using their wealth for the benefit of those who are deprived.

Sometimes I fantasize about the technology of the future, stuff that I will not live long enough to see. What devices will people have by the end of this century? It is difficult to imagine.

At the beginning of the 20th century, no one could have imagined how computers would transform the world. Nor could people foresee the role of television in shaping our lives. I just hope that, whatever the new inventions, they will not dominate people, but rather people will use them for the improvement of the human family.

As I finish this column, I wonder if you can detect any difference in it from all those that I have typed. It may show traces of spoken language that modify your reading experience.

If so, chalk it up to my experimentation with a new technology. This is one element in my brave new world, one that I am thankful to have lived long enough to taste.

Richard Griffin