Be where you are

healthcarenewsblog.com

I've been suffering from a mild case of nostalgia. Despite society's (and my husband's) pressures to conform, I remain a die hard, pen and paper using, radio listening, barefoot in the kitchen, hard-bound-book, page turner. Now, I won't lie. I do appreciate the ability to read my Kindle, long after lights out without disturbing his highness's sleep, and Pandora is simply one of the best inventions ever but I am hesitant to fully give myself over to all that technology has to offer.
While listening to NPR today I heard a piece about the declining percentage of manual transmission drivers. This saddened me, as I am a manual driver and thoroughly enjoy it. In related news, I recently made three purchases that made my husband roll his eyes: a sewing machine, a turntable, and a refurbished 1920's Remington Model 3 typewriter complete with the original glass keys.
Back to the manual transmission. During the interview, the gentleman who was a devotee of the "stick" spoke fondly of being connected to the experience, of being in control and fully being in the moment.  I can relate. I recently told someone that I had an aversion to technology. I was wrong. I have an aversion to the virtual experience.
Enter: the sewing machine, the turn table and the typewriter. The need for these items came about because I want to be connected to the things I do instead of having them done for me. I want to feel like a participant in my life and the events that take place and know what it's like to do things "the hard way". I am convinced that we are willingly giving up this right little by little as we let the virtual seep into every crack of the authentic.
Instead of actually going through the trouble of visiting our friends, we Facebook them. Instead of shopping for, preparing, and lovingly serving our families dinner, we hop on the computer and order it without the inconvenience of dealing with a real person. Instead of putting ourselves through the humiliation of wearing those God awful bowling shoes and drinking cheap domestic beer, we simply bowl on the Wii...ok now that I kind of get. But I think you get the point.
We are losing out on real life experiences by leaning on our technology crutches. I overheard a conversation referring to cell phones as 'adult pacifiers' and to be honest, I couldn't find a good argument against it. It's true. Watch a line of adults and everyone of them will be occupying their time on their phones, sadly, as their friends and family stand right next to them doing the same exact thing. How many conversations have we missed out on because we were to busy being with someone via text, Twitter, or Facebook, instead of being with the people right in front of our faces. Wake up my darlings. The virtual friendships and experiences cannot hold a candle to those right in front of you. Put down the phone and be where you are.

Happy living my darlings.