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Everything Old is New Again
October just happened to show up! And, last week, I had a few light-bulb moments. Maybe October is the month for me to shine. I do have light-bulb moments every once in a while. Last week was the most bulbous of all of the light-bulb moments for me.
First of all, I think I spend far too much time corresponding with friends and family via the “socials”. Yes I do. The phone—or the laptop— is the first thing I reach for in the morning. Well, not exactly the first thing, but digital connections are the contenders in the race to get my attention at daybreak. I tend to the important things first: brew a cup of coffee, use the low-tech facilities and then I grab the cellphone or the laptop to see what I might have missed in the eight hours I was sort of sleeping. Once I have my coffee and have made my hardware choice, it’s anyone’s guess how long I’ll be or how far down the inter-web warren I’ll go. Yessir, I spend far too much time catching up with a world full of angry, self-serving, depressed and miserable people I likely haven’t met, so why do I bother with “the socials”? Before the postal strike was a thing, I thought I’d dust off my Bic, dig out the notepaper and start writing letters to people instead of making a pathetic comment to an online topic that I really don’t care about. At least once a day I wonder how the heck we managed before someone thought we should put our lives “out there” for everyone to see, pander to and criticize. How did we manage to pass around the information before social media? How did we manage to share the good, the bad, the lovely and the grief without pressing send? And then?
Well, and then just as I was thinking about revisiting the old habit of sending letters and cards via snail mail, the postal disruption happened and now I might have to re-jig my brilliant idea. Since I am not a phone person, it’s going to be interesting putting my plan to reduce my online time into action without the key players from Canada Post. In spite of that little hitch, I firmly believe my life would take a big turn for the better if I spent more time outside, or painting or reading or hiking or having a coffee with a friend and less time scrolling through drivel online. And let’s face it, most of what’s posted on Social Media is pure Milorganite™. It’s interesting to note that several schools in North America have “banned” cellphones (especially in the classroom) during the school day. Many of the teachers and students in those schools have said it was difficult at first, but almost everyone just got used to being “physically present” and actually speaking with each other—in person. Several of the students interviewed said they felt a bit awkward at first but are enjoying the face-to-face interaction with their friends and classmates. Imagine that! Less immediate access to emojis, cranky debates, unwanted memes and photographs means folks have to read a newspaper, listen to the news broadcasts, look words up in dictionaries, read a book, write a note on the back of your hand, pass notes in class or raise a hand to ask a question or offer an answer! That’s some scary business, right there. On top of this, we will actually get to see a real person, a face, a personality, a reaction, an emotion, a feeling!
Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate a good Google search. I do rely on “credible” online news sources and research sites to get my work done. We all know hard copy Encyclopaedias have had their day. And, mostly, it’s a lot easier to let “autocorrect” do its job on your version spelling. But isn’t it more fun to handwrite something after checking-out which “there, their, they’re” to youse/use in your Funk and Wagnall? Also, in our day-today interactions with friends, family and co-workers how exciting is it to receive a greeting card or a handwritten letter in the post? If you’ve ever moaned and groaned over a seasonal-family-newsletter from a distant relative, here’s your chance for a payback! If you start your holiday family newsletter now, it could be a six-pager by December 1st!
All jokes aside, I know I’m going to be less anxious if I just start my day with a good book, the crossword puzzle in the newspaper and a cup of coffee with LOML. From today forward I’ll work on balancing my life online while I try to figure out which “five-letter word for GOOFY” is the right five-letter word for “GOOFY”.
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