Isn't amazing how dependent we have become on technology? Take last night for example. I get home from work only to learn that our internet was out due to a fiber optic break somewhere. It wasn't just our neighborhood, it was several other cities as well, including a coworker who lives 15 minutes away in the next town. It is just so unreal to me how dependent we have become, like my kids. When they got home from school, I let them know the internet was out and there wasn't a real timeframe on when it would be back up. You would have thought the world was ending any minute. "What are we going to do?" "How am I supposed to play COD with my friends?!" "OMG I am going to die without internet!" Yes, my children are absolutely, 100% dramatic. I did feel a little bad, they couldn't even stream anything to watch TV and heaven forbid they watch cable TV in the living room or with me in my room. It was also 95 degrees outside with a heat index of 103*, there really wasn't a whole lot to do and no way would they want to play board games with their mother. My daughter ended up getting invited to go to Dave and Buster's with a classmate, so her boredom was taken care of, my son ended up taking a nap... a very long nap. The life of teenagers in 2022 is just so hard.
Needless to say, I wasn't able to post anything yesterday because of the lack of internet. I really wasn't able to do much on my phone either, it seemed our cell provider was also having issues. That part didn't bother me at all really, I spend a lot of my time on the phone at work, so having it not really work yesterday was a blessing in disguise. So, this morning, bright and early, here I am enjoying a cup of coffee while writing to y'all. Seriously though, think about it for a moment, we have become so dependent upon technology that we are forgetting how to live when it doesn't work. When the internet goes out at school, the kids literally do nothing, which blows my mind because why can't you do long division on a piece of paper? If the internet goes out at work, what do we do, nothing, we literally can't. Everything I do for my job is technology and internet dependent, so a day is wasted, and I get behind. More times than not, I enjoy it when the internet goes out. I sit and pick up a book and read, or I go outside and sit on my porch and take in the scent of my flowers and herbs, or I can sometimes get my daughter to play a board or card game with me. I'm chuckling right now remembering a couple weeks ago when we and a storm and it knocked the power out for a few hours. I lit candles, got our flashlights out and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I sat on the porch watching the rain fall, listening to the cracks and booms of thunder, its peaceful to me and instantly calms me. My daughter on the other hand, she was panicking and begging me to come back inside because she doesn't like storms and heaven forbid, I could get wet, LOL.
Except when I have a huge project to work on, I welcome the crash and burn of technology. It allows you to take a mental break and re-center yourself, which, now a days is so incredibly important. We learned the hard way in 2020 when COVID-19 was at the center of our lives, just how dependent we all have become on technology. Schools and work were virtual and teleworking, the infrastructures couldn't handle the sudden influx, so systems kept crashing, for some it was certainly a nightmare. But we adapted and overcame and have become more technology dependent than ever. I will say though, without the advances in technology, coffee would be hard to come by, and that would certainly be tragic. As the saying goes, "I won't die without coffee, but you might." :) Coffee first, always.
*Fun fact, my Alexa just played my morning calendar and weather update, and it is Homer Simpson's birthday today! *
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