Modern technology is absolutely amazing, especially when it comes to communication. Here I am drinking coffee at my usual watering hole in Wawota, and at any moment I can pick up my smart phone and get in touch with folks on the other side of the world. OK, so you might say "No big deal, that's what a phone is supposed to do," but I'm not talking about talking, I'm writing about writing - if you follow my drift.
Texting, instant messaging, call it what you will, it's become an absolute craze. Teenagers wouldn't know what to do if you took their cell phones away from them, goodness, some of them might have to learn how to, like, speak! And, if truth be told, there are plenty of adults who fall into the same category, folks who spend countless hours texting people who live just down the street. It does have its advantages though, now instead of shouting my teenager downstairs for dinner, I just text her!
And it gets better. Recently I was in Regina and wanted to order new prescription sunglasses for our daughter. Now, like any teenager, she knows that sunglasses are a personal statement of style, but was still back home. So I set some frames on the table in Regina, snapped a photo of them, and sent it to her via the phone. She picked out the frames on the spot and we ordered them. The staff was still talking about it when we picked them up two weeks later.
Yes, I love this new world of ours, and best of all, there's facebook. Yes I know that a lot of people won't touch it with a 10 foot barge pole, and I also know it can be open to abuse, but I've been using the free service for a year and a half now, and I think it is great. Indeed I've been able to reconnect with about 60 people I'd lost touch with decades ago, and for that it is unmatched. I also use it for business, creating a showcase for my books, audios, kid's club, etc. It is little wonder that six hundred million people across the planet have embraced this technology.
And then there's Skype, who would have thought 10 years ago that I could lie on the couch in Wawota, holding a device in my hand that allows me to do a free video call with my sister in Scotland. It's becoming a very small, interconnected world, and that's just fine by me. And don't forget YouTube, where anyone can make and upload home-made TV programs. What a wonderful world indeed.
However, like any tool, these instant-communication systems can be used for good or bad. They are of themselves without morals, without ethics, it is people who bring those dimensions to their use. We can find news-breaking online videos of a major event mere seconds after it happens, or discover a new pop star, or proclaim our love for someone. On the other hand we can find abuse of every nature, videos of mayhem, death and terrorism presented in full-colour and gory detail. Yes, the online communication world has become the new high ground of social freedom, it can inspire or depress, and it can uphold some governments and topple others.
So how can we use this power for good? It begins with a choice, a simple decision to act online as if all our communication was totally transparent. Remember that other people can see what you do on facebook, people have lost their jobs over things they have written there. I am disgusted at some of the things people say on facebook, and equally appalled at the comments some people leave in response to YouTube videos.
What if we all cleaned up our act? Some of us are using these technologies as a way of uplifting and encouraging other people, surely that's the best use of the super-modern, global-reaching technology of communications these days. Imagine the power of the internet being used to touch lives in a positive way, imagine the world-changing potential of harnessing these technologies for good, that's the opportunity that faces us, what a wonderful thought. So today, as you use your electronic gadgets to communicate with people around the world, or across the street, see what you can do to brighten their day.
