My Preciousssss

It did not take me long to get used to addicted to my iPhone. It could have been an Android or any other smart phone. From a person who kept her old 'stupid' phone for ages, I morphed into a smart phone junky. I sometimes even use it as a phone, can you believe that? But then there are all these other uses: searches for information - entire world encyclopedia at my thumb tips, emails I can answer instantly, which makes me very popular with my friends, GPS for when I get lost, which I often do, weather forecast so I can confirm it is another sunny CA day, and my eyes are not deceiving me, news to assure me that the world has not blown up to pieces, blogging that has to be done right this instance and can't wait till I have a larger block of time and I can actually write something that makes sense, podcasts that help pass the time during boring house chores, e-books so I don't overwork myself carrying the real thing, dictionary (see books) so I don't have to flip pages, music, hours and hours of it so I dont have to listen to the same piece twice, camera... well I use it I guess if I want to email my pics immediately, texting to tell my friend to stop texting while driving (I am a good girl and I always pull over to text), calendar so I don't show up for Wednesday meeting on Tuesday, topo maps in case I loose the real ones (?), shopping lists so I don't kill trees by using paper (oh, that goes also for books, maps, and dictionaries). Shall I continue?

Borrowed from Apple Insider

What is my favorite app on my Preciousssss? I think Sky Walk. You point your very intelligent phone to the sky and it shows you the map. One click and you get the names and information about the stars. Another click or more and you can see what the night sky looked like when Julius Cesar crossed Rubicon. How cool is that?

I got my Preciousssss half a year ago. How on earth did I survive without it for 53 years?

But I also give that technology a more serious thought; I often wonder how it affects my life and how it changes the world. Just yesterday I was listening to Krista Tippett's (you know I love Krista) unedited interview with Jean Vanier, an interview that was not really about technology but about caring for and loving those with disabilities. Krista brought up the subject of technology and what she and Jean Vanier said very strongly resonated with me because I have had similar misgivings about how I use my Preciousss.

Since this part (about 1:18:44 into the program) of the interview was edited out from final version, I had to transcribe it, and quite possibly missed and/or added a word or two; sorry about that.

Krista:

The world’s pain comes to people in Western cultures often through their television sets or through reading some horrific story in a newspaper, or seeing an absolutely heartbreaking picture, like a picture I saw of an Iraqi child crying at a funeral the other week that haunted me for days and yet there is nothing I can do for that Iraqi child; he’s thousands of miles away. I think am also aware that it’s not only I can’t touch his pain or the sources of it directly, it’s that I don’t know his sources of solace, I don’t know what’s gonna help him get up the next day and somehow start to heal.

Jean Vanier:

We are in incredible world of technology, global world, we can be very excited to see what is going in television and yet with television and even with cell phones and internet we can cut away from relationship. To get an email you don’t see the eyes of the person, you don’t see the face, you don’t see the smile, you don’t see the hands, you don’t see the tone of voice.

[…]

As you look at that Iraqi child and you were wounded and wanted to do something and yet you were confronted by your incapacity because that child was not in front of you, if that child was in front of you, you could have taken that child in your arms. So we are going into the world where the imagination, the virtue, the long distance, things we see far away appear as close but you can’t touch them so they are not close, They are close to the imagination but they are not close to the body.

I've been often guilty of mistaking emails for real connection to my friends. But even though technology has enriched my life, lately I have been making an effort find the time to meet with my friends in person, to talk to them, to eat meals together, to hike together, to hug, to laugh and to cry together.

I still love my Precioussss and would be lost without it, but, old fashion that I am, I would rather hold that Iraqi child in my arms than just write a check.
But then I just went back on Facebook. :-)
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