Sunday morning I was woken by a 7:30AM text from my brother. “7 pounds, 20 inches, born around 2:00AM,” followed by, “Been a long night, talk to you soon.” Included with the message were a handful of pictures of my brother’s new baby. I am an uncle.
During my hour drive to see my new nephew I reminisced about my daughters’ births. 18 and 21 years ago we paid the hospital extra for phone privileges so we could bug family members at crazy hours during the night. I spent hours on the phone when my daughters were born. Technology allows people a very expedient method of communication.
Technology has really changed the way we celebrate life’s landmarks. Weddings, divorces, births and deaths are celebrated and dealt with through technology every day. For better or worse, technology makes announcements more convenient and strips away layers of emotion. Technology makes communicating and sharing life’s landmarks easier.
Years ago it wasn’t uncommon to have 35mm disposable cameras at weddings. The planner would hand them out with the expectation they would be returned after the wedding. After waiting a few days for developing and printing the good pictures would find their way into a scrapbook of candid snapshots the bride and groom kept as a keepsake.
Modern weddings have a Facebook page where guests can upload pictures instantly. The last wedding I attended requested that guests upload pictures to the event page and tag people. Rather than a lot of mingling and socializing there was a lot of questioning about who the guests were. I wondered who was going to look at the Facebook page after the wedding.
Oddly enough, death seems to be a landmark event that has been augmented by technology. Obituaries printed in the newspaper have probably been the norm since the printing press was invented. Nowadays it’s not uncommon to flip through social media sites and see memorials comingled with all the other day-to-day gibberish.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve asked someone for a date only to break up with them months or years later. All of it was done very anxiously either in person or by phone. Technology takes all of that emotional headache out of both the inquiry and rejection for both parties. Many of the emotions related to relationships are stripped through technology.
A friend of mine called me with some bothersome news that he was fired by text message. Rather than the company giving him the potentially disturbing news face-to-face, his employer sent him a very impersonal text message informing him of his termination. Perplexed, my friend explained his boss didn’t have the backbone to give him the news personally.
We’ve all had to give someone disturbing information that could impact their life. Like my friend who was fired, text messages and emails allow the informant to relay the information without hurting themselves. The unfortunate part of digital communication is it removes the human element of being able to deal with a potentially life changing event.
Technology allowed my brother to broadcast his good news to his close family and friends without impacting the recipients’ lives too much. It allowed him the time he needed to rest and be with his new family but also spread the news. Life changing events don’t always stick around though, so social media posts and text messages tend to only be convenient and temporary. Luckily for my brother and sister-in-law the news of little Cosmo may be temporary, but his life will be everlasting.
(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can read past articles at www.LocalComputerWiz.com.)