My birthday was a few days ago.
December 14th.
It was a good day.
My mother called from Atlanta. My brother called from Wisconsin. My uncle called from Illinois. The long distance calls rocked.
But what really rocked, because they were so surprising and unexpected, were all the "Happy Birthday" wishes I received on Facebook. Beginning just after midnight PST on December 14th, I started receiving emails like this one....
"You totally suck. You're old. Your best days are LONG gone, bro."
Nah...
Most of the emails went something like this.....
"Happy Birthday Mike. Have a great day."
Nothing fancy. Nothing elaborate. No declarations of unrequited love. No poetry. No Shakespearean sonnets. Just a simple "Happy Birthday," typically followed by a wish for a good day.
Sure, I know that Facebook prompts your friends that it's your birthday. I know it doesn't take all that much effort to type "Happy Birthday" (or in one case "I wish you happiness").
I knew all that.
And didn't care.
Because it made me feel pretty darn good.
Most of these birthday wishes came from folks who live hundreds (if not thousands) of miles away from me. In some cases, they came from people I haven't seen in almost 20 years. College buddies. Frat brothers. Old friends...
Relationships lost through the slow but inevitable ebb and flow of time.
Isn't it funny how people can slip through our hands like sand? Time does that. It marches steadily on as we wage our daily little wars, raise our children, pay our bills and watch the hour hand fly by faster and faster. Time moves on and we just lose...people. Not through some act of omission or commission. Not due to some cataclysmic event. Not with a bang.
Or a whimper.
They just...go away.
One day you wake up and realize, "My God. It's been 20 years since I've seen [you fill in the blank]. Where did the time go?"
Time and connection.
The heat miser and snow miser of our lives.
Make no mistake, the fact that I am a "technology education advocate" does not mean that I am a "tech guy."
I don't salivate at all things Apple.
I don't think on the 8th day God made the iPad. (Though it is a pretty nifty little machine).
But I do believe in the power of the pc. I am continually amazed by its ability to change the world for the better.
The pc?
Sorry Bill Gates....I don't mean the personal computer. I mean the personal communicator. Because that's what modern technology has become, whether you're talking about a smart phone, a laptop, a netbook or a desk top. These sleek little little devices are our own little personal communicators. And while some people think that our world is going to hell in a hand-basket because of all this "[expletive deleted] technology," and decry all things technical because of all the time our children seem to be spending tappidy-tap-taping on their cell phones or playing video games, I choose to look at all of this stuff through a slightly different lens.
We fret because our children are texting too much. We worry about the loss of real world experiences. We condemn because we think technology cold and impersonal. We fear a techno-centric society. All fair concerns. But hit the pause button for just a second. What are our children doing when they're tappidy-tap-tapping on these machines? What are we doing with our laptops, desktops and cell phones virtually all day?
We're communicating! We're connecting!
We're sharing.
We're doing it in a very real way, in real time, to real people. Yes...the medium has changed. We're not using a pen and paper or land-based telephones, but we are communicating. And we're doing it more often, in more ways, with more people than at any point in the course of human history.
Isn't that a really good thing?
Think about this. I can talk to almost anyone, anywhere, anytime. This isn't space age stuff. I can do it right now. And here's the real kicker. Many means of communication are (be warned, I'm about to drop an F-Bomb).....free. Take skype for example. You can download it for free. You can use it for free. If your computer has a camera (and most do), you can use skype to make free computer to computer video calls. Folks, this is very cool stuff that requires absolutely no "technology" skills. Last year, my nine year daughter skyped my sixty-seven year mother to wish her a happy mother's day. They had a 30 minute video conference...each sitting in front of their respective computers from 3000 miles away. C'mon people, this is James Bond stuff; simply unimaginable when I was a child.
A few years ago, I received birthday wishes from about four people. These birthday wishes came from people who could reach me by telephone or who lived in my house. This year, I received over 20 birthday wishes from people living in 10 different states. So don't tell me technology is cold and impersonal. Don't tell me we're losing each other and we're sacrificing meaningful connections because of technology. Don't tell me technology drives us apart.
Time is often the true enemy. We're always so busy; so pressed, so stressed, that we lose so much. We lose people. We lose old friends. We lose out on the ability to connect. But "to connect" today doesn't mean a handshake or a hug.
It can be an email.
It can be a birthday wish on Facebook.
All it takes is some small gesture that says, I'm thinking about you.
You matter.
So I'm throwing down the gauntlet.
I am declaring myself now and forever more to be a pc guy.
And my birthday wish for you...
Is that you should be one too.
December 14th.
It was a good day.
My mother called from Atlanta. My brother called from Wisconsin. My uncle called from Illinois. The long distance calls rocked.
But what really rocked, because they were so surprising and unexpected, were all the "Happy Birthday" wishes I received on Facebook. Beginning just after midnight PST on December 14th, I started receiving emails like this one....
"You totally suck. You're old. Your best days are LONG gone, bro."
Nah...
Most of the emails went something like this.....
"Happy Birthday Mike. Have a great day."
Nothing fancy. Nothing elaborate. No declarations of unrequited love. No poetry. No Shakespearean sonnets. Just a simple "Happy Birthday," typically followed by a wish for a good day.
Sure, I know that Facebook prompts your friends that it's your birthday. I know it doesn't take all that much effort to type "Happy Birthday" (or in one case "I wish you happiness").
I knew all that.
And didn't care.
Because it made me feel pretty darn good.
**********
Most of these birthday wishes came from folks who live hundreds (if not thousands) of miles away from me. In some cases, they came from people I haven't seen in almost 20 years. College buddies. Frat brothers. Old friends...
Relationships lost through the slow but inevitable ebb and flow of time.
Isn't it funny how people can slip through our hands like sand? Time does that. It marches steadily on as we wage our daily little wars, raise our children, pay our bills and watch the hour hand fly by faster and faster. Time moves on and we just lose...people. Not through some act of omission or commission. Not due to some cataclysmic event. Not with a bang.
Or a whimper.
They just...go away.
One day you wake up and realize, "My God. It's been 20 years since I've seen [you fill in the blank]. Where did the time go?"
Time and connection.
The heat miser and snow miser of our lives.
*********
Make no mistake, the fact that I am a "technology education advocate" does not mean that I am a "tech guy."
I don't salivate at all things Apple.
I don't think on the 8th day God made the iPad. (Though it is a pretty nifty little machine).
But I do believe in the power of the pc. I am continually amazed by its ability to change the world for the better.
The pc?
Sorry Bill Gates....I don't mean the personal computer. I mean the personal communicator. Because that's what modern technology has become, whether you're talking about a smart phone, a laptop, a netbook or a desk top. These sleek little little devices are our own little personal communicators. And while some people think that our world is going to hell in a hand-basket because of all this "[expletive deleted] technology," and decry all things technical because of all the time our children seem to be spending tappidy-tap-taping on their cell phones or playing video games, I choose to look at all of this stuff through a slightly different lens.
We fret because our children are texting too much. We worry about the loss of real world experiences. We condemn because we think technology cold and impersonal. We fear a techno-centric society. All fair concerns. But hit the pause button for just a second. What are our children doing when they're tappidy-tap-tapping on these machines? What are we doing with our laptops, desktops and cell phones virtually all day?
We're communicating! We're connecting!
We're sharing.
We're doing it in a very real way, in real time, to real people. Yes...the medium has changed. We're not using a pen and paper or land-based telephones, but we are communicating. And we're doing it more often, in more ways, with more people than at any point in the course of human history.
Isn't that a really good thing?
**********
Think about this. I can talk to almost anyone, anywhere, anytime. This isn't space age stuff. I can do it right now. And here's the real kicker. Many means of communication are (be warned, I'm about to drop an F-Bomb).....free. Take skype for example. You can download it for free. You can use it for free. If your computer has a camera (and most do), you can use skype to make free computer to computer video calls. Folks, this is very cool stuff that requires absolutely no "technology" skills. Last year, my nine year daughter skyped my sixty-seven year mother to wish her a happy mother's day. They had a 30 minute video conference...each sitting in front of their respective computers from 3000 miles away. C'mon people, this is James Bond stuff; simply unimaginable when I was a child.
**********
A few years ago, I received birthday wishes from about four people. These birthday wishes came from people who could reach me by telephone or who lived in my house. This year, I received over 20 birthday wishes from people living in 10 different states. So don't tell me technology is cold and impersonal. Don't tell me we're losing each other and we're sacrificing meaningful connections because of technology. Don't tell me technology drives us apart.
Time is often the true enemy. We're always so busy; so pressed, so stressed, that we lose so much. We lose people. We lose old friends. We lose out on the ability to connect. But "to connect" today doesn't mean a handshake or a hug.
It can be an email.
It can be a birthday wish on Facebook.
All it takes is some small gesture that says, I'm thinking about you.
You matter.
So I'm throwing down the gauntlet.
I am declaring myself now and forever more to be a pc guy.
And my birthday wish for you...
Is that you should be one too.
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