Viewers of the 1960s TV series &8220;Lost in Space&8221; always got a quick notice of impending danger from the &8220;high-tech&8221; robot.

His warnings were quite the TV spectacle.

Arms that looked more like a dryer vent hose than a space-age metal would flail in the air.

Lights would flash.

And, in the most annoyingly monotonous voice of the times, the robot would blankly scream, &8220;Warning! Warning! Danger, Will Robinson!&8221;

His warnings were meant to be helpful. They rarely were.

Most of the time on the show, moments after the robot raised the red flag, something bad would happen to the other characters.

The robot&8217;s ridiculous warnings were among the first &8212; and arguably worst &8212; instances in modern times of an annoying technology.

Today, those tech annoyances abound and they can be as infuriating as being hopelessly lost in space.

One of the classic tech bothers can taunt you from across the room, waving at you in LEDs. Yes, the blinking &8220;12:00&8221; became commonplace back in the 1980s with the explosion in popularity of the VCR.

The clunky &8212; at the time &8212; devices were magical, allowing a viewer to record a TV show even without being at home at the time the show aired. But the amazing magic quickly became devilish black magic when the electricity flickered.

Resetting the clocks became the stuff of nerd legend.

Those complicated little boogers were programmed by the devil himself, some people would argue.

Soon, VCRs became extinct, but similar blinking clocks on other devices emerged.

In fact, at one point, studies showed the average American home had no fewer than five such &8220;you&8217;re technologically stupid&8221; reminders blinking, 24-7. OK, that may not be true, but it sure did seem like it once back in 1996.

On a personal note, yours truly was once a complete techno-fan. Anything new, any new gadget was of interest.

Lately, my technology fuse has become much, much shorter.

Technology should help us, not annoy us. But annoy us it does.

At my house, throw something in the microwave, fire up the waves and everything is fine. But open the door to check on what&8217;s cooking inside and you&8217;d better be quick. The microwave is on a schedule.

Leave the door open for a few seconds while the cook timer is still set and the machine&8217;s brain will start beeping at you.

In monotone beep it seems to be screaming, &8220;The door&8217;s open Mr. Wannabe Emeril. Close it and let me zap that stuff some more.&8221;

This offends me.

I&8217;m the advanced human here. I&8217;ve learned how to walk upright. Heck, some distant cousin invented the microwave in the first place.

Yet, the GE wizards decided that the micro-brain knows best how to operate itself.

Managing to drive to Natchez Market, buy the ingredients, cook them and freeze the leftovers all without injuring myself doesn&8217;t mean much to the engineers who created the annoying modern-day version of the &8220;Lost in Space&8221; robot.

But the incessant beeping doesn&8217;t stop there.

Pulling into my driveway. My car also knows best. Unbuckle the seat belt in the driveway to grab the newspaper or check the mailbox and sirens go off.

I&8217;m a fan of the mandatory seat belt law. I&8217;ve worn one religiously since I was an unrestrained passenger in an accident many moons ago.

One screwed up back and busted collarbone later and I was a belt evangelist. But please, Mr. Car, don&8217;t preach to me. I&8217;m the choir.

And let&8217;s not get rolling about how annoying computers can be.

&8220;Are you sure you want to delete that?&8221;

&8220;Reformatting this disk cannot be undone; all data will be lost.&8221;

Some days it can just be maddening. Sorry, I&8217;ve got to go. The microwave door just beeped and I need to sign off before she really gets upset.

Kevin Cooper

is associate publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or

kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com

.