our dependence on technology

yesterday, my husband and i were over a month behind on our phone-internet payment. having at&t, i thought we could go at least two months before facing any disconnections. however, yesterday morning we discovered that we had an internet accessibility problem that i, being the technical-oriented person that i am, could not fix. so i called for assistance...and was automatically re-directed to the executive office for payment collection. the disconnection order was placed 2.28.2008.
we were disconnected from the internet.
there have not been many days in which i was forced to spend my time in some other way when what i really wanted or needed was the internet. these instances include a trip to syria, visits to mississippi, and visits to my less than current relatives, and the trips to syria and mississippi were not void of any internet experiece.
the past 10 years of my life have been marked by a near constant internet presence, and seeming necessity thereof. what has actually happened, in fact, is internet dependence.
an economics professor i had a few months at uchicago ago joked that a research assistant of his initially thought that by research, he meant 'Google', or that 'Google' was the best/only way to find information about a subject matter.
at one point, we had four working computers in my household- all of which were being used.
i complain to my husband about the amount of time he spends online- on email, reading the news, etc. it seems sometimes that he may as well be married to it since they spend so much time together! :)
i also seem to remember a television commercial in which the family communicated entirely via email or instant messengers. i think it was supposed to promote AOL in its heyday.
the fact is, that is what many of us are falling toward. the first thing we do in the morning and the last thing we do at night is check our email. and we do it 100x during the day.
formal research (not Goooooooooogle) and actually connecting to people (not emailing or using AIM or GoogleChat or any other messenger) to contact your next door neighbor, or, in some cases, one's roommate who is sitting behind them. yes, i've seen it, and yes, it has happened to me, and yes, i've done it. ... and let's not even talk about the sheer amount of time we waste
online.
our children will grow up with this behavior- can you believe it? technology affects our lives both positively and negatively, and often we don't realize until we do with and do without- and do without with an open mind.
i don't know how long our internet was disconnected. but, like a junkie, i tried everything short of paying the bill (which i ultimately paid) to get it back. my husband found another way (which i considered too), while i went shopping. what happened that evening? my daughter and i listened to some music, washed dishes together, and made dinner. then during and after dinner, my husband, my daughter, and i listened to a talk, a lesson, given by the imam of the mosque we attend. it was such a calm and pleasant evening, followed by a pleasant morning, all without the loud computers buzzing, mice clicking, and keyboards tapping.
what did we learn?
nothing. we have the internet back now. i am expecting the same routine.
no, we did appreciate that evening. we learned together that life without the internet is pleasant and that we do things together that we have always talked about, but never acted upon. we do things as a family that we should have been doing.
i don't expect my love-hate (read: 'dependent on-independent from)' relationship with the internet to soon fizzle into near or total independence. it may never be total independence. i did not talk about the positives of the internet, but i think you would agree that they are without need of being mentioned.
in the meantime, i am going to work on a plan for weaning myself and my husband, so that we don't start looking for computers for babies....(joking)- but weaning is in order.


[[[damn corporate america for not allowing people to spend time with their families, but the internet does the same job. is it really the fault of the powers that be in corporate america that our babies aren't allowed in our office or is it our intense desire to leave them home or in day care? *by 'our', i do not mean myself, as i am an advocate of bringing my daughter with me everywhere*.... more on this later!]]]
[[[also stay tuned for my ponderings on technology and God]]]

the warmth of living simply

the use of grocery stores is thoroughly engrafted into mainstream lifestyles, along with big box retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target, and shopping malls. urban dwellers and small towners alike have all but lost touch with the black stuff underneath our feet- the black stuff that the urbanites rarely get to see because it is covered by concrete and tall buildings.
at the cost of our nutrition, farmers' livelihood, animal rights, environmental duties, and on a deeper level, emotional health, we have gained “ease” and the “convenience” of variety, centrality (location), etc. yet our hearts and souls yearn for something more genuine than food wrapped in plastic, put in a box, and placed on a shelf because it is pumped with so many preservatives that it will be edible for months, if not years. now we are learning the costs of our sacrifice, even though in our ignorance, we let the greedy take over. we are learning in case after case after case that for foods, drugs, and cosmetics, companies barely meet the usda and fda standards.
today, we received news of a recall of 143 million pounds of beef, 37 million of which was purchased for distribution into school lunch programs and nutrition programs. (aside: these are probably for the poor (headstart) and for public schools, mostly attended by African- Americans in places like Chicago, New York, and Marks, MS. the poor are not only less likely to be informed about these matters, but they are also unlikely to be able to afford to purchase quality meat. furthermore, even if they were informed, they face issues such as a lack of time and representation to ensure that they have a significant voice in this broken system). i mainly eat organic fruits, vegetables, and packaged products, and the fact that these breaches of trust happen so often with conventional foods, drugs, and other products forces me to question the quality of usda standards for the organic label!
my family (my child, my husband, and i) are gradually but definitely moving away from the realm of the pre-cut products and the packaged products of he conventional store and into the realm of the raw, live, and uncut. God- willing we can soon return to a simpler life, with simple, genuine people. maybe you can join us.