I'm Taking It Slow by Joy Fisher
The older I get, the more I wish my grandparents were still alive so I could ask them how they felt about the modern inventions of their day. I remember my grandfather, who was born in 1909, telling me about the first party line telephone his family shared with nearby neighbors. He would be astounded to know what today’s smart phones can do.
I keep telling myself that every generation has experienced a technology boom, but I sometimes feel the world is spinning faster now than ever before. I like gadgets as much as the next middle-aged modern mom, but I don’t mind explaining why I am holding on to some old traditions.
- We still have a land line. I know, we probably don’t really need it, since it seems the only people who know the number anymore are solicitors. Still, two or three times a week, my 6-year-old nephew calls our house to talk with his cousins about something he saw or did or learned. I love eavesdropping on these relationship-building conversations while any one of my kids walks around the kitchen with that long, dangling phone cord.
- I love and use my library card. I will never forget going with my mother to get my first library card. Each week Mom took my siblings and me to return and check out books, toted back and forth in a blue canvas bag with a green bookworm on it. I learned that the library was a place for us to have an outing and be together, and those books I brought home fostered in me a love of reading that has never abated. These days, I take my own three children to the library as often as possible. As preschoolers, they loved story time with the librarians. Now they enjoy summer reading programs, playing games on the library computers, and checking out audio CDs and video games as well as books. Yes, I know those electronic reading devices are cool, but they are just not for me, yet. Call me a throwback, but I still love the feel and smell of a printed book. I’m digging in my heels on this one.
- I’m a shutterbug. I’ve read newspaper and blog posts predicting the demise of point and shoot cameras. Film cameras are already nearly obsolete, and lots of my friends tell me that their phones take better pictures than their digital cameras. That may be true, but I like taking lots of pictures. I like looking at them, editing them, and sharing them. I’m really into digital scrapbooking and making DVDs of my pictures and video clips. See, I’m not as anti-technology as you think!
So what’s the point of all these confessions? As my family’s calendar fills up with more and more must-do’s, I want to be sure and slow down enough to take note of each passing day. I’m reminded of the passage in Ecclesiastes 3 that reminds us that there is a time for everything under the sun.
I plan to continue to intentionally keep one foot on and one foot off the electronic treadmill. I want to play board games with my children and watch them ride their bikes and shoot baskets. I still love to read to them and provide a place at home where they can draw and use glue and scissors and messy glitter. I want to talk face-to-face with the people I love. Most of all, I want to believe that someday as my kids tool around in their Jetsons-era cars, they will know exactly how I felt about my changing world.
Are there "relics" of technology that you hold onto? I'm a book-in-my-hand person as well. - Jessie
Joy Fisher has been a ParentLife contributor since before her children were born; her oldest is inching ever closer to his 13th birthday. She edits Special Buddies, LifeWay’s Bible study curriculum for children with intellectual and developmental special needs.
Photo used with permission of Flickr Creative Commons.Click on photo for source.
