Technology Blues

Technology is A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!!! Not only can I watch t.v., I can pause and rewind it AND record it so I don't have to bother with commercials. If I look hideous, I don't have yo leave the comforts of my home-I can do my banking,bills and shopping online. I can take a picture, and within minutes share it with all my friends and family....AMAZING!!!

However, technology does come at a cost. I think one of the major drawbacks is the loss of personal interactions.

Instead of receiving free lollipops from the teller at the bank drive through, we go to the drive through ATM...who only rewards us with a receipt.

Self check outs at the store have eliminated the challenge of getting the cashier to smile (a game Jared and I like to play)...and when you are checking out your own items, if you forget your membership card you can't ask a machine to scan a temporary card for the discounts to save that $1.25!

Emails have replaced hand written letters. eHarmony has replaced good old speed dating. Twitters and tweets have replaced little notes. Text messages have replaced phone calls.

Last night, Jared was trying to sleep, and since I was wide awake I decided he needed to be as well...so proceeded to poke him (in a non-facebook way)which started a war. In order to defend myself from the responding attack, I hit him in the head with my phone a couple of times (this sounds WAY more violent than it was...we were both laughing by this point).

My phone decided to call my friend Lesley, who I was in the middle of a text-ersation with. It took a few minutes to realize what had happened, and when I tried to explain to her what had happened I could barely breath I was laughing so hard.

She just laughed with me, and we talked for a few minutes. When I hung up I realized this was the first actual conversation I had had with her in OVER A YEAR!!!! She has one of my favorite laughs in the world (Allison, I am sure you agree!) and it had been over a year since I had heard it. We "talk" weekly through text messages, but....OVER A Y EAR!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!

The thought made me sad...so I have a new goal for this week. Whenever possible, I am going to avoid technology that causes me to miss a personal interaction.

I invite you to join me in this endeavor! Together, we can reclaim the lollipops, notes, letters, phone calls, and temporary membership cards (and that $1.25 in savings)! I am excited to see how it turns out. WHO IS WITH ME?!?!?!?!