Tuesday 29 September 2009

Online or off the planet?

Sorry I have been offline the past few days, life has been busy. It's made me think, though, about my cyberworld.

These days most of my interaction with friends and family is online. Email, SMS, Facebook, blogs. Does all this technology help me stay in touch with my loved ones or does it turn our relationships into just words on a screen?

As a mum I think it's been invaluable. While the kids are screaming you can chat with friends without them being disturbed. While the bubs are sleeping you can chat with friends without them being disturbed. You can ask a quick question without going through a whole lot of small talk [yet again, my dislike of small talk rears its head]. I can keep in touch with my family overseas almost instantaneously - which is wonderful.

Today I bumped into a family member, who I often communicate with online. It was almost surreal to meet in the 'real world' though it was quite lovely to chat and laugh. It made me feel sad that we don't see each other more in the flesh, even though we live  just a suburb away. It also made me realise that this technology lets us be involved in each other's lives when the mundane routine makes it otherwise impossible.

So, I guess it's like everything in life - in moderation all this cyber-business is an OK thing.

Tune in tomorrow for my first top 10 list.

Good night and good luck.

3 comments:

  1. I feel kind of famous for being mentioned in a blog, and all warm and cosy that it was positive. Yeah - know what you mean. Email/SMS/blogging etc is great in one way...but there is no replacement for real humans. Both is great tho bc quite often you get to know a different side of people when you read their writings (particularly bc you are such a good writer). Much love. xxx

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  2. You're so right. A lot of my interaction is online, and even more so in the last year. I rarely call people anymore because an e-mail or SMS says it quicker and with Master P babbling away in the background, it's hard to concentrate on phone calls anyway (that's been fun while trying to organise job interviews!).

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