Some friends and I were talking about progress the other day and one of them said she isn’t sure all this technology is a good thing. She’s not a very tech savvy person because she doesn’t want to be. She thinks it might present more problems than it helps. It’s true when you think of all the problems that have come along with the progress, it can be intimidating. But where would we be without it? Cell phones attach to my hearing aids with bluetooth.
The hearing aids have computer chips in them that are more powerful than the old Pentium computers. We can do our banking online, manage our houses online, work at home via network, even find medical advice online. And where else could we get such quick answers? Even if libraries had the information, they’re not open 24/7. There’s so much we can do that I can’t begin to list it all but if you’re reading this, you probably know anyway.
Do the downsides my friend pointed out negate all the good stuff? Is she right that “Internet (Facebook/Twitter) friends are not “real” friends? I don’t think so. I think any facet of life has its risks, abusers, problems, and complications. Good things happen and bad things happen no matter where we are or what we do. Life happens and we have to live it, enjoy the good, use whatever tools we have available to help us muddle through, and not dwell on all the negative.
I’ve been facing a lot of challenges this year. My cataract surgery had some uncommon complications and I lost a lot of my vision, which without working ears, is to say the least, difficult. Without the technology of laser surgery (which I just had last week) there wouldn’t be a chance to help me get some vision back. Darling Hubby’s knee surgery? Arthroscopic Surgery – again technology.
I don’t know how I’d have gotten through all the hard things that have happened the past year without technology, friends and family. And that includes the friends I’ve made online. Some I’ve reconnected with years later, some are friends I see regularly, some are friends I met after getting to know them online (through other friends I really know – no strangers!!!) and some of them I’ve never met.
Are the people I only type to, who were concerned about me and sending me their love and support and good wishes any less real than the people I knew from long ago? Aren’t they real people with beating hearts typing their real feelings? I think so. And that makes them real friends because real friends are the ones who care, who are there when you’re not very entertaining, when you need someone to listen. And I am so grateful to have so many caring people in my life.
The friends I see on a regular basis – what others would call the “real” friends have been angels in my life. Some of my closest friends have become family – the sisters I never had. There are no words to express how wonderful my family is and has been. My children, who are the light of my life, and my husband, the most unselfish, loving person I’ve ever met in my life – my heart and soul. When you have people like these in your life, it’s hard to feel sorry for yourself when life gets rough. And when you can find more caring friends through technology, how can it be bad?