Alison, what a cool site! I spent some time browsing around the categories and was totally captivated.
I have to admit to liking technology so much that I sometimes prefer it to human contact (horrible to admit!) I don't mean that I prefer it to family or friends, but when I found myself wishing that the stores where I live now had self-check aisles like the stores where I used to live, I knew I was practicing hermit behavior!
Cindy, what you write about is so true. We can order almost anything online (which means that instead of getting out and about, seeing things, mingling with people and shopping with our senses, we are choosing things based on how they look on an LCD screen and interacting only with the UPS delivery person. We can buy clothing, books, concert tickets (printing them out on our home computer, even). We can attend huge virtual garage sales on ebay or freecycle. We can work at home, in our jammies if we choose. We can make most of our world virtual if we choose.
So I'm thanking you for the reminder that to be involved in the world, I need to constantly choose it. There's fun in going to a bookstore. There's human contact by working at an office, or in a coffee shop for a day or two a week. And there's a healthier connection to the outside in these things. I need to rely on myself a little more and the UPS delivery truck a little less.
At least I never learned how to let the internet walk my dogs!!
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Alison, what a cool site! I spent some time browsing around the categories and was totally captivated.
I have to admit to liking technology so much that I sometimes prefer it to human contact (horrible to admit!) I don't mean that I prefer it to family or friends, but when I found myself wishing that the stores where I live now had self-check aisles like the stores where I used to live, I knew I was practicing hermit behavior!
Cindy, what you write about is so true. We can order almost anything online (which means that instead of getting out and about, seeing things, mingling with people and shopping with our senses, we are choosing things based on how they look on an LCD screen and interacting only with the UPS delivery person. We can buy clothing, books, concert tickets (printing them out on our home computer, even). We can attend huge virtual garage sales on ebay or freecycle. We can work at home, in our jammies if we choose. We can make most of our world virtual if we choose.
So I'm thanking you for the reminder that to be involved in the world, I need to constantly choose it. There's fun in going to a bookstore. There's human contact by working at an office, or in a coffee shop for a day or two a week. And there's a healthier connection to the outside in these things. I need to rely on myself a little more and the UPS delivery truck a little less.
At least I never learned how to let the internet walk my dogs!!
January 20, 2009 - 2:55amThis Comment
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