View From The Ditch Bank

TWEETS, TOOTS, BLOGS AND,uh! WELL: You get the picture. Or you will. Maybe. There was a time long ago and close by, when if you wanted to tell someone something, you talked to them in person. Or wrote them a letter. In hand writing, with pen and ink, or whatever tools was available in whatever time period in the past you want to consider. Then Alex made his invention. That's Graham Bell, just in case you were wondering. And we went from two tin cans and a string to two sophisticated tin cans and a wire. Now the tin cans are gone, along with the string and the wire. Now we can communicate with others across the world, or even from out of the world, in an instant. Sometimes I wonder if Alex had even a smidgen of an idea of what he was about to unleash on the world. You're right, I don't think so either. Now, I use e mail, and obviously a blog, for those few of you that venture to read my occasional drivel, and I have a cell phone even though I'm not in jail, and I can access the Internet from the top of my lap if I'm any where cell phone service is available. I rarely text, and then only to answer a child or grandchild who has sent a text to me assuming I actually have the phone turned on. I don't have a face book account and the only twitter I know about comes from birds and young ( or not so young) girls. Now, before you get the idea that I'm against all this tec na lo gee, I rush to say no, I'm not. With families spreading across the globe, and this instant communication via computer through instant messaging, facebook ( MLWFAE has an account ) Skype, Etc, at a relative inexpensive amount of money is a wonderful thing. And I am sure that the children of my grandchildren will have access to wonders that I cannot imagine in my wildest imaginings. (And if you can't read that last word, use phonics on it.)And my imaginings can get pretty wild sometimes. And I know that I have hardly scratched the surface of the wonders that are available to us right now. Having said all this, I sometimes wonder if we aren't missing something in our relationships with said families and friends. Like a face to face conversation, or even a letter written in our own hand, rather than in some emotionless type, in an instant computer message. I think we need to put down the ipods, iphones, computers, turn off the TV and just, uh, communicate. Having said that, guess I'll close this blog, go check my e mail and log on to MLWFAE'S facebook page and watch the rest of the news and the evening dose of Olympics. And that's The View From The Ditch Bank.