It amazes me how quickly and how much technology has changed in my lifetime. I currently am sitting on a Delta flight from Detroit bound for Fort Myers, FL. It’s about an 1100 mile trip, flying at approx. 500 mph, at 35,000 feet altitude and I should be arriving in under 3 hours. My first plane trip was in 1976 and I was traveling from Detroit to Daytona Beach to visit my sister Mary Kay. There were no screens for me to watch movies or play trivia on, there were actual stewardess’ that served meals, you could smoke on the plane, and when I landed wheeled steps were brought to the door of the plane for us to disembark onto the tarmac.
This trip, Delta was excited to let us know we now have “New and Improved” snack choices of yogurt, honey roasted peanuts, pretzels and their famous cookies. The screen on the seat in front of me offers movies, TV shows, games, music, flight information, etc. etc. etc. (And yes, I do picture Yul Brynner every time I say that). I can plug in my phone into a USB port, my skull candy ear buds have a jack to access, and I have a power outlet for my computer. I’m watching “Deadpool” on my laptop, an incredibly stupid and hilarious movie, and trying not to laugh out loud. And I’m thinking to myself, I kind of feel like I’ve stepped into the “Jetson’s” cartoon.
It’s all coming true….They had flat screen TVs, video phones, talking alarm clocks, treadmills for dogs, roombas for vacuum cleaners, tanning beds, and drones to take Elroy to school (well we’ve got drones, but I’m certainly not putting any of my loved ones into one yet.) My first memory of even watching a fuzzy black and white tv image, was of the Mercury space flight in the early 60’s. I thought it was the most incredible thing I had ever seen. Now we have been to the moon, have an International Space station and are planning a trip to Mars.
And as I sit here speeding through the air with all my electronic technology conveniently at my finger tips, I think oh my gosh I’m 57 years old and I feel this enormous change in my lifetime. How much change has happened in my parents lifetime? My mom is 86 years old and my Dad passed away at the age of 83. They were born in 1931 and 1926 respectively. They listened to the radio for news and entertainment. They didn’t even have TVs and if they were lucky enough to have a telephone it was a party line connected through the wall to lines outside and shared with numerous families. My dad used to tell us anecdotes about growing up in Red Lodge, Montana with little to nothing, and about his time as a flight navigator in the Army/Airforce during WWII. “And there I was at 10,000 feet and the pilot said jump….” We were enthralled when we were little.
So I sit here at 35,000 feet, looking down at the clouds, thinking how much the world has changed. Propellers to jet engines, party lines to cell phones, radios to flat screens, our Electrolux vacuum we had growing up to Roombas, and all the things we take for granted in our quest for new and improved. And yes, I’m amazed but also a little saddened. In our quest to connect with technology, I think we lost some of the ability to connect with each other. We text instead of talk, surf Facebook instead of reaching out in person, and emoji our feelings instead of truly bridging the gap with a real hug.
I’m guilty as charged. As I sit here and blog my thoughts and feelings, I am as culpable as the next person. Technology is not warm, fuzzy and loving. It cannot hold our hands in loss or joy. It cannot cry with us, it cannot hug us, it cannot laugh til’ we feel like we’re going to wet our pants with us. My mission today is to not look at my phone but pick up my phone to call someone I love, turn this computer off and go outside to feel the sun on my face, laugh with my sister, give and receive some real love. And my hope is that you will do something similar too…..