good morning, world

[aroraborealis]

Hello, internets, I want to tell you a little story about how technology (in combination with moominmolly) made my day better:

I have not been sleeping super awesomely lately. I have a lot on my mind, and also my cat has been noisily sick for about a week (more on that later) and I've been both worried about her and unable to sleep through it because of her noisy coughing and other alarming sounds coming from her furry little body. So, okay, I wake up early, but I'm tired, and I don't really want to get out of bed, and, oh, my room is really chilly, so burrowing under the comforter is really much more appealing.

So, naturally, I get online via my handy-dandy phone, and I leave a trail of internet crumbs, responding to people's posts here, commenting there, logging into games and playing my turn, etc. And suddenly, there's a text from moominmolly suggesting we get together for breakfast at Crema in Harvard Square! Which was motivation enough to drag myself out of bed and get moving, which was really what I wanted to do, since I wasn't going to sleep anymore. And then I got to have breakfast with a friend and catch up and have some nice, low-key social contact before wading into the day, and it was great.

The end.

Except, not the end, because what's really awesome about this is how this really wouldn't have happened without mobile devices and the lots of casual connections we have with each other by way of current technologies, and all this alarmism about how technology is getting in the way of our important social connections and people don't know how to be friends anymore is just a modern version of "you kids get off my lawn" and "in my day, nostalgia reigned". I love how easy the internet and my well-connected and convenient mobile phone make it for me to talk to people near and far is a lot of really wonderful ways. And for how it facilitates an unexpected breakfast first thing in the morning.

Comments

[lazyz.livejournal.com]

There's so much to love and hate about the 21st century.

[veek.livejournal.com]

"in my day, nostalgia reigned"

Laughed at this one loudly enough that a passing coworker turned, bemused, to look at me.

Sorry about the poor sleeping. So much excellence about your morning, though!

[redheadedmuse.livejournal.com]

I love this.

[amber-phoenix.livejournal.com]

exactly!

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

This was so wonderful and great! It really set an awesome tone for my day, too, which is good because as soon as I got in there was a big outage. :)

Yay, technology! And yay you!

[coraline]

I love how easy the internet and my well-connected and convenient mobile phone make it for me to talk to people near and far is a lot of really wonderful ways. And for how it facilitates an unexpected breakfast first thing in the morning.

amen!!!

[catness.livejournal.com]

I both agree and disagree with you. The tech is amazing and allows lots of kinds of connections which make the world better and more awesome.

The part I don't like about it is The Shiny Addiction that keeps a lot of people focused on the 3"x5" device in their hands to the exclusion of the Stuff In The World. I drive around with a lot of people like that, and they never see the beauty of the city, the majesty of the ocean, or know where the fuck they are without looking at their GPS app. ;)

Sorry to hear about your kitty and your interrupted nights. :/ But yay, breakfast!

[bloodstones.livejournal.com]

I have the internet to thank for the fact that I am still a central member of my boston/college alums community that make up my closest friends, and still a peripheral member of other boston communities that I was a peripheral member of when I left 6 years ago. I also have many frequent visits to thank for it, but a number of other people moved away at the same time and I (while no more loved than the other people) continue to be a member of the community in ways that they are not, and I think it's due to the fact that I made a conscious effort to use the internet for this purpose.

[jillbertini.livejournal.com]

I like to say that technology is a tool - and I see it used as much for connection as for isolating - probably MORE for connecting, actually. So yay! ♥

That's a great story

[drwex]

My feelings are conflicted. I love living in the future but I see that this version of the future ill-fits some people. As, I suppose, did all futures. After all, "Future Shock" was written decades ago.

I tend to think this sort of discomfort is a source of the "nostalgia reigned" sentiment. If I am uncomfortable in a situation or environment it's much easier to find fault with that situation or environment than it is to examine how I am (not) fitting into it.

[metaphortunate.livejournal.com]

F'ing seriously!