Technology and the Family - September 2007

While few would argue that technology has helped us in many ways (travel taking hours instead of days or weeks, laser surgery, etc.), how do we balance the use of technology in our lives so that it enhances our experiences and families and doesn't tear them apart?

Take computers for example. I first encountered this thing we call the Internet back in the fall of 1992. Back then we were talking amber or green print (no pictures, etc) on a black screen and moving from 286 to 386 connection was cause for celebrations. I was at college at the time and saw a listing of MUSHes (multi-user shared hallucinations), accessible via the computer, hosted only who-knows-where. So how does all that work? MUSHes are basically online role-playing games (rpgs), and people would type conversations back and forth between the different characters they assumed. Anne Rice was a big thing at this time (I don't even think the 5th book of the Vampire series was out), and most of my characters seemed to be vampires.

I met my first husband on one of these MUSHes. We talked back and forth, on the computer, and on the phone (one time alone was 2 hours). He asked me to marry him, before we ever met face to face and I agreed. (Yeah, I know, but I was younger and more stupid back then.) We got married in the county courthouse about 7 hours after we met in person.

So, now I had myself a "family", and that is a good thing, right? Well, 6 months later, I asked him to leave our apartment, and about a month after that, he left the state.

Flash forward 14 years. Computers are even more fun now then they were back then. The colors, the sites and sounds are astounding. They are used in nearly every corner of our lives: cars are computerized, kitchen appliances, washers and dryers, offices and schools, etc.

They also lead me to another man, another marriage and three children. That family is still together ... relationships are rocky at times ... but we were never promised it would be easy.

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While looking online for information about "technology", I came across this interesting article from Australia that suggests all the technology and choices we have this day is actually detracting from the family's time together.