E-Connections

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that people I know...people I have known for over forty years more or less...are not e-connected.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised.  Life is like that.  People are like that.  Not that, as Seinfeld would say, there's anything wrong with that.  But it does give me pause.

I reconnected with someone I have known since since 1974.  I always thought of her as someone who went with the flow of time and developments.  It had been, I was surprised to discover, six years since our last contact.  Things happen you know.  But some friends are always there, on the same page no matter when you pick up the book of your friendship.  This person is like that.

Yet I was still stunned when I asked her if she had a Facebook page.  She said, "I have one of those Facebook things, but I have no idea how to use it."  She is two years younger than I.  I also know her mom.  Her mom lives close to her.  I sent an e-mail to my reconnected friend with an update of what's going on with me, etc.  She returned the favor.  I asked for her mom's email.  She said, "I doubt my mom has one, she doesn't have a computer."  

I am guilty of e-assumption.  I take being "e" for granted.  I wanted my friend to check out this blog.  She said, "I've heard of blogs but don't know how to find them and use my computer rarely."   I was e-flabbergasted.

But I take my computer connections for granted.  It was a part of my work for so many years.  I love to compose write onto the laptop.  I used to use a typewriter years ago for writing.  Don't get me wrong, I used to hand-write a lot.  Now I find I rarely pick up a pen.  Everything I do has an "e" before it.  I am plugged in.  And I have come to expect the rest of the world to be e-savvy too.

I was wrong.  

And it gives me pause.  It truly does.  Maybe it isn't so great to be electronically connected.  It is all so...so...so virtual.  Nothing real.  Unless being e-real is reality these days.  Which, it seems it is at times.

So I will continue on my way of e-communications.  I can print and mail my communiques.  But I have to admit I enjoy getting hand-written missives in the mail.  A greeting card is always a joy.  But when the Post Office fades into history, I doubt I will want to pay Fed-Ex to deliver a letter I can send for free via G-mail.

Maybe if I lived in the remote hills of a place like North Carolina where time still moves slowly, I wouldn't need this instant gratification.  That, I fear, is the issue.  I am addicted...not unlike many modern e-connected people... to instant gratification.  And that, I fear, loses something in e-translation.

It's got an e-hold on me....