Face to Face

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200 words, addiction, alone, community, connecting, depression, Diana Schwenk, Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, family, health, herd mentality, human nature, humanity, interaction, interdependent, isolation, living in the moment, love, Relationships, social, teamwork, technology

It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.

– Albert Einstein

I’m sure that when we first got mail service, a mother who missed her adult son said, “Now he doesn’t have to visit, he just writes a letter,” and it broke her heart.

And I’ll bet when we first got telephones that some jilted lover missed seeing her man face-to-face when he called.

And TV sure did it’s part to break up the family conversation around the dinner table.

But we got used to these things. With the passing of time, we became accustomed to each new way of communicating and being, and only bemoaned technology when a new one popped up.

These days with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, texting, it’s almost like technology is enabling us to connect again.

But is it really?

When you don’t see facial expressions or reactions, are you really connecting?

With record numbers of people struggling with depression, addiction and loneliness and countless others thinking suicide is their best option, isn’t it time we reexamine the value of connecting one-to-one and creating a sense of belonging through community?

Isn’t it time for us to get face-to-face?

~ DIANA’S ENORMOUS BOOK OF QUOTES ~

Technology: Does It Connect or Disconnect Us?

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cell phone, communication, community, connecting, family, First World Problems, friends, social, social media, stories, technology, Tourist in my own city

A recurring conversation I find myself a part of, is whether technology has marked the end of connecting with people or opened up a way to connect that would not have been possible in days gone by.

Louise wrote on Monday in her post 52 Acts of Grace l week 2 about how difficult it is to share even a smile with people on the sidewalk or C-train, because most folks seem to be staring at the tiny screen on their cell phone.

I’m sure we can all share tales of being at meetings or out with friends only to be interrupted or completely ignored because someone is texting or Facebooking or Tweeting or taking selfies or…

I’ve been guilty of it myself.

I have a friend who admonishes me every time I take a picture, convinced that I’m missing the real-life-sized experience when I’m looking at it through the screen of my Blackberry Q10.

And I admit that any picture I’ve ever taken pales in comparison to the beautiful beach, mountain range or sunset I view in person with my own eyes.

Maybe while trying to capture the moment, I lose it all together.

And then there’s safety!

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been walking down the street and I have to stop dead in my tracks, because the person approaching me is staring at that screen, completely unaware of what’s going on around them.  I cannot guess if they will go left or right and so I stop. When they finally sense my presence it shocks them – some have even given me dirty looks!

More frightening are the times I cross the street and someone making a right-hand turn while using their device narrowly avoids hitting me with their car. I’ve learned to make eye contact before stepping into the cross walk.

So when I read Louise’s post on Monday, I mentioned I was texting on Easter Sunday. I couldn’t be with my family. My brother and his family and my mom were having lunch at the Willows Inn in Hudson, Quebec and the next best thing to being there was texting each other Easter wishes and real-time photos.

So you see sometimes technology does connect us. Only problem is, I was walking while texting and almost tripped on a crack in the sidewalk!

Below, the pictures we took and shared in real-time

Mom and Mike at Willows Inn

Me on the corner of 14th Str and 13 Ave SW

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

So what do you think? Does technology connect or disconnect us?

I Don’t Know What Time It Is

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200 words, alarm clock, Blackberry, communication, Diana Schwenk, Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, humour, phone calls, Relationships, technology, texting, unplug, world issues

There are few times that I feel more at peace, more in tune, more Zen, if you will, than when I force myself to unplug. ~ Harlan Coben

Really?

I’m not so sure Harlan.

Because I keep reaching for it, but it’s not there.

I don’t know what time it is, having gotten rid of the clock several years back.

I don’t know how I’ll wake up on time to go to work tomorrow. I threw out my radio/alarm clock a few days ago.

What if someone needs to call me? I got rid of my landline a year ago.

What if I miss an important text? What if someone’s crushed because they think I’m ignoring them?

Those were my thoughts on Wednesday when I forgot my Blackberry at work. I noticed at home when I reached into that special compartment of my purse.

“No biggie,” I thought. “I’ll update my Facebook to let people know I forgot my phone. I’ll send an email to work, if I’m not there it’s because there’s no alarm to wake me.”

No biggie

Peace? In tune? Zen?

That’s not what I felt…

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

Do you reach for it when it’s not there?

Are You Feeling A Bit More Cramped Lately?

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civilization, dependent, depleteing resources, Diana Schwenk, humanity, Hump Day Chronicles, interdependent, living in the moment, population growth, small world, technology, world issues

MAYBE IT’S BECAUSE YOU ARE!

I watched a documentary last night that addressed the history of human population growth. For most of human history the earth’s population was pretty much static. People were hunters/gatherers and lived in small family groups.

Eleven or Twelve thousand years ago when people started farming, it allowed them to stay in one place. Larger groups of people began to form and were able to share ideas and become more innovative.

Human population stayed around 10 million until, and only exploded around, 250 years ago. The documentary went on to say that very specific moments in time were the beginnings of what society is today and allowed us to live in larger and larger towns and cities.

Things such as the perfection of the steam engine that birthed the industrial age, and the invention of metal letters from wooden ones that spurred huge numbers of people to learn to read and write, the first electrical grid that powered fifty-odd houses, the invention of shipping containers that led to cheaper world-wide trade allowing more people to enjoy foods from different lands and so on.

Did you know that the first telegraph from the Queen of England to the President of the United States was 99 words and took 17 1/2 hours to send?

And now with texts, emails and tweeting, the narrator said one would have to start reading them when Christ was born and we’d still be talking.

I was amazed to learn that NYC is the world’s biggest and most culturally diverse city. Did you know that over 800 languages are spoken there?

Did you know that 80% of electricity is still powered by coal? That Canada uses 2% of the world’s electricity? The USA uses 19%? Europe use 14.5%?

Did you know that 93 million barrels of oil are produced each day?

Did you know that over 350,000 babies are born, and 150,000 souls leave every day?

Did you know that 2006 was the first time in human history that more people lived in cities than on the land?

Did you know that at any given time 500 million people are on an airplane going somewhere?

The world is more interdependent and dependent upon technology than it has ever been. A sudden power loss can literally shut everything down.

It now takes roughly one acre of land to feed one American. By 2050 with a projected world population of 9 billion people, four will need to live off that acre.

With growing populations, increased mining of finite resources causing more pollution and affecting our water and air, shrinking amounts of land for agriculture, what new innovations will need to happen for the human race to survive?

I found the whole thing very amazing and very terrifying.

If you’re feeling a little more cramped lately, maybe it’s because you are.

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

* I’ve written this today from what I can remember. It’s entirely possible that I have a few of the facts a bit wrong, but I don’t think it takes away from fact that the human population used to take thousands of years to grow by the same percentages that only take decades now.