Why Technology Connects Us

I come from a family that is always on the move. 

Whether it is snowboarding, rock climbing, off roading, hiking, swimming or a myriad of other sports, we are constantly exploring, discovering and surging onward. Being raised to be in motion, we find more and more that we are together less and less. We have begun finding our own trails to blaze and our own cliffs to climb.

When we were children, we would go camping in the furthest reaches of Northern Canada or go cliff jumping in Tobermory without our laptops or smartphones. We would spend nights around a campfire, chatting face to face, without a hint of cell phone service. But as the years progressed and I moved across the world, my sister was married and my youngest sister moved to Utah for a treatment for her eating disorder, technology was not a hindrance but a lifeline.

I remember every Sunday evening a couple years ago, sitting around the dinner table as a family and waiting for the phone to ring and for Jolene’s little voice to ring out to let us know that she was ok and doing the best she could to heal and then staring blankly at the phone after the inevitable click after her 10 minutes were up.

Now that Megan is married, I can send helpful, older sister information on social media:

I will never forget the night before Jolene was headed to Avalon for her second round of treatment, my sisters and I made a movie on my laptop. We were in absolute hysterics. I guess we couldn’t cry, so we laughed. It is strange to say, but making a movie together was healing for us.

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, without fail, my father will make a comment about my blog post that day that he read on his tablet, even though the man could not care less about running. I inherited his spirit for adventure and he is proud that I am moving towards something, even though it is with a hydration pack on my back.

As for my mother, she has recently discovered texting and although she has the basics down in principle, the length of message she sends suggests that perhaps she confuses it with email. Nevertheless, it is always a pleasure to receive messages like this:

I guess what I am saying is that technology gets a bad rep far too often and I thought it was time to explore the warm, fuzzy side. My loud, talkative and fiercely loyal family cannot spend every evening around a dinner table or campfire any more, but continuing to be involved in each other’s lives is vital for us. Whether it is subtle digs on social media, manifestos on our cell phones or bonding over movie creation, we kind of love technology.

What are your thoughts – do you find that technology connects or isolates you?