Tech-NO

I miss the phone book. Well, not the actual book really, but I miss the people in it. So many people have given up their landlines in favor of their cell phones. All this means is that unless I know someone who knows you, I can't find your number or your address. This means that if I want to send you something nice in the mail, or call you, I am up the book without a number! It's frustrating because I pride (not really pride) myself in traditional communication. If I want to talk to you, I would rather call you, send you a handwritten (yes, written) note, or email you.  I do text, but find it impersonal. We recently hopped on facebook because we were missing out on some family information. It was my husband's idea, and rather than have him do it alone, he suggested we do it together. That's okay, but it's no substitute for real communicating and relating to others.

It wasn't too many years ago that phones didn't exist. When we heavily relied on the mail to communicate. I have stacks upon stacks of postcards that I have collected for years. Do you know the last time I received a post card? I don't remember either! But my collection is even more cherished than ever. I have cards so old that the dates are barely visible. These were heartfelt notes written between friends and family because they missed each other. Do you really know how to miss anyone these days?  How many texts, facebook posts or emails do you copy and lovingly place in a keepsake box? Exactly. You don't, and neither do I.  Being a sentimental person, this is painful!

I may be one of the few, but I miss the days of waiting to see if that boy would call. When the phone rang, you plowed your brother over to get there first, then answered calmly, so as not to seem too excited..."oh, hi grandma...yeah, just a minute..." No caller ID, no call waiting. No machines! And the anticipation of a phone call was like finding out mom was ordering pizza for dinner! 

My kids have cell phones, but don't talk on them. They text. No one talks to anyone anymore! I find it disturbing that you can have 200+ "friends" on facebook, but never make time to hang out with a real friend. It's bothersome that I can't call you because you've ditched your landline. It's annoying that the only pictures I see of your kids, your vacation, or whatever is on facebook where everyone sees them. Remember when we used to make a date to have coffee and look at your vacation pics? Gone are the days.

Call me old-fashioned. Please do! I enjoy my sentimentality and nostalgia for a simpler, maybe more time-consuming life. I didn't mind waiting for the phone to ring. I didn't need to know what everyone was doing every second. Life used to be nice and slow. Life today is too fast, too full. And it makes me tired and frustrated. This so-called technology, designed to save us time so we can just cram more junk into our lives quite frankly leaves me wanting. Take the phone books away, and now I can't communicate with anyone. Yep, that's a great move for technology. Soon we will have no mail at all. Kind of hard to send a beautiful greeting card to someone in a nursing home, isn't it? Well, we wouldn't want to mess with "technology", would we?