In A Moment

It seems to me that people are all caught up with their technology, and I wonder if they are really present in their own lives any more. Gone are the days when you drove to or from work and either prepared yourself mentally for your day or wound down from the events at the office and looked forward to your evening at home. It seems people are either talking or texting with their cell phones while driving and I wonder what the long-term effects, if any, there are going to be.

Will people end up less relaxed? Unable to truly enjoy silences or park their bums on the couch for an extended afternoon of movies, classic TV or a handheld book and cup of tea? I think people are already showing signs of being more stressed than not. Most people I know are always tired. I don’t remember people always being tired when I was in my 20s and 30s.

I was wondering if taking pictures or videos at get-togethers lessens the enjoyment of the actual event. Looking for that great shot and hoping to get the best moments might be removing us from participating.

Because I live so far from my daughters and their families, I love that I get to see so many pictures of their days, movies from their special events and even being able to see them in real time on the computer. Living hundreds of miles away and still feeling involved as a mom and grandmother is a real gift that my mother did not get to take advantage of just several short years ago and it must have been abysmal for her mother when she moved to a completely different country, way back when air travel was not in most people’s budgets, never mind the price and quality of overseas calls in that era.

By posting pictures and videos on places like Facebook, you get a wider group of people able to enjoy the moments you’ve digitally caught and they post feedback and similar stories—I think we might actually be able to enjoy those events even more, being able to relive more of the best moments more often. Different moments stand out to different people and we might be getting more of the actual event with the addition of the digital version.

My granddaughters are 4 and 2 years old. Saying “cheese” for pictures is an integral part of their everyday life. I wonder what they think of saying that word and smiling for the camera as compared to eating cheese, which they both love doing and likely happens daily as well. I think I’m going to have to ask them what cheese means and see what those two brilliant, clear-thinking, unabashed girls have to say.

It sure is easier nowadays to go on a long trip with young children, what with the portable DVD players, hand-held games and more available to entertain them. Are they going to be able to entertain themselves when they are alone? Will they be missing out on using their imaginations? I used to think that maybe it would be detrimental; now I’m not so sure.

One definite improvement: I haven’t heard of today’s kids ever saying, “Are we there yet?”