Feeling a bit "Carry-ish"
It's amazing what technology has done to us and our relationships: with ourselves, with our loved ones, with our friends and with our one-nighters. I don't give technology much credit usually because I feel as though our world is advancing too much too rapidly. I get angry when I think about the fact that there are people in the world who don't go out of their houses: they work at home, shop from home, get their food and groceries delivered to them after ordering on-line, "virtually" go to virtually anywhere in and out of the world and only have on-line relationships! Where is the living in that?!
Then, today, I started to contemplate my own relationship with technology, what it's done in my relationships. It began with the drunken realization last night that I had been "blocked". This made for a very unhappy drunk. A slightly better rested but much more hungover me decided that the only way to seal the deal and get on to being a happier me again was to just delete the whole friendship - because isn't that what MySpace asks: "Are you sure want to delete ______ as a friend?" And, with a stroke and click of the mouse, that friendship no longer exists, finally letting me put it behind me and stop thinking about it.
Then I started to think about it - Why did saying 'yes' to that question feel so good? How frequently has this happened in my life? When did technology take the back-seat to a shoulder of a good friend?
Well, there was that horrible day back in April when I had to bite the bullet and delete my new ex from my yahoo! messenger list. Oh, and there has been the 8 years of misunderstanding between my father and I that finally came to a deafening stop - all through e-mail. There's the fact that I have friends and family members whom I haven't found the time to call in months or years, but I know I can still find them because I have their e-mail addresses. And, oh yes, there was the electronic personal organizer that had a mighty lengthy list on it - when the battery died and it lost its memory, I lost a feeling of self-doubt and shame.
I'm O.K. with it today, though, because last night, I went out with some very old friends. I had good laughs, good beer, good music and overall some good times. There was some stickiness there at the end, but even that is good - the human emotion means that there is life! And, life isn't easy. But, you know what? I'm sitting on my balcony, basking in the sun wearing shorts and a tanktop while ladybugs land on me, writing on my laptop. So maybe, if we try very hard and make sure to get the combination right, technology and life can go hand-in-hand.
Maybe I'll find the answer to what the "right combination" is if I Google it!
Then, today, I started to contemplate my own relationship with technology, what it's done in my relationships. It began with the drunken realization last night that I had been "blocked". This made for a very unhappy drunk. A slightly better rested but much more hungover me decided that the only way to seal the deal and get on to being a happier me again was to just delete the whole friendship - because isn't that what MySpace asks: "Are you sure want to delete ______ as a friend?" And, with a stroke and click of the mouse, that friendship no longer exists, finally letting me put it behind me and stop thinking about it.
Then I started to think about it - Why did saying 'yes' to that question feel so good? How frequently has this happened in my life? When did technology take the back-seat to a shoulder of a good friend?
Well, there was that horrible day back in April when I had to bite the bullet and delete my new ex from my yahoo! messenger list. Oh, and there has been the 8 years of misunderstanding between my father and I that finally came to a deafening stop - all through e-mail. There's the fact that I have friends and family members whom I haven't found the time to call in months or years, but I know I can still find them because I have their e-mail addresses. And, oh yes, there was the electronic personal organizer that had a mighty lengthy list on it - when the battery died and it lost its memory, I lost a feeling of self-doubt and shame.
I'm O.K. with it today, though, because last night, I went out with some very old friends. I had good laughs, good beer, good music and overall some good times. There was some stickiness there at the end, but even that is good - the human emotion means that there is life! And, life isn't easy. But, you know what? I'm sitting on my balcony, basking in the sun wearing shorts and a tanktop while ladybugs land on me, writing on my laptop. So maybe, if we try very hard and make sure to get the combination right, technology and life can go hand-in-hand.
Maybe I'll find the answer to what the "right combination" is if I Google it!