Our lives haven’t changed at all just this world has gotten progressively more crazy.... baaa baaaa

I just shake my head sometimes I’m sad people are so scared and sometimes it frustrates me.
I read a sign at a local church that read...

People are more afraid of the plandemic than they are of God!

I have a cheap smart phone but I just use it as a phone. I have a PC and Kindle to go online. The unlimited data plan is too pricey for my phone.

It was explained to me that it is more efficient for the receptionist to send a text to remind us of appointments than to place a call. It’s faster than waiting for someone to answer or wait for voice mail and then have a conversation.

My grandfather was one of those old curmudgeon types who refused to move with the times and was always disparaging the younger generation. I vowed I wouldn’t be like him as I got older. I need to remind myself sometimes.

Advances in technology have changed my life; mostly for the better. We have control over how much it impacts our lives.

I still only have a flip phone and only turn it on if I'm out and about and may need for an emergency. I don't text with it as it is too hard to do with my old fingers. I go days sometimes weeks without turning it on and use a pay as I go plan. It is so nice to not feel I am chained to a device. I tell everyone that I am not smart enough to have a smart phone.

I love all the new technology. Back in the day I wonder how many thought a telephone was too “new fangled” or preferred a horse and buggy to a car or preferred candles to the scary electricity. And you are all “on the grid” anyway since you are using some version of technology to use this forum. I don’t think it is a sign of superiority one way or the other

I am not so dependent on my cell phone but am becoming more so. I forget it all the time and it is not attached to my hip. I still use my house phone but because of all the robo calls I have had to direct more doctors and 'real' people to my cell phone and that I do not like to do. It just makes me more dependent. And now the only way I can see church services is via my cell phone. Talk about dependency. I am not comfortable going out yet even though I am fully vaccinated. While I watch services there doesn't appear to be a lot of social distancing. People are wearing mask but it makes me nervous. Our lives are changed now and I believe forever because of the pandemic. The dependency on cell phones for many of us is happening whether or not I like it.

I live out in the country where the cell phone service is unreliable. Wifi is much better. So I usually use my smartphone when I travel or to hook to the internet via the house Wifi. I ignore voice mail messages on my smartphone as most of it is spam!!

We do use our internet connection alot though. My husband has worked remotely for over 15 years. And I was working remotely part-time when we started homeschooling 2 years ago.

I think the biggest thing for me that changed in all of this is social media. Things like facebook just got so negative last year that I rarely look at it. I don't need everyone to comment on my choices. I've limited my social media exposure to groups (like this one) that have a focus and are supportive.

I remember my parents having "a party line" - I do not remember how many homes/families were connnected to it. At least 8.

Basically, if it was in use, one could just pick up the phone and listen to what the other people were saying. No 911 back then.

Mom frequently talked "in code" because she assumed there were listeners to every conversation.

I do wonder how "private" anything is - or was - as far as that goes.

My cellphone is in my pocket at all times. It reminds me to take my medication, it's my alarm clock, it reminds me that it's time to take my grandson to work, and most importantly it acts as an emergency contact device.

11 years ago I slipped on the stairs and went sledding down the whole length on my behind. Broke my tailbone and was paralyzed for several minutes. Cellphone was in my purse, I think -- definitely not on me. If it was I could have called 911, or one of my daughters, or someone for help. As it is, I just sat/laid there and waited for DH to come home from church.

So agree with JanieW and others who have said the same thing: we have control over how technology impacts our lives. Mostly...(a bit less so where I live). I keep thinking how utterly grim the 1918 influenza pandemic must have been (just read a very good book about it) - grim anyway, but so much harder to bear than in a day and age such as ours; no texts, no internet, no on-line classes for schoolchildren and students, no connections between families, no knowing what was going on in the country. I understand why a lot of people feel threatened by technology, but can you imagine how much more difficult this last year and a half would have been without it? I feel grateful every day for my ability to communicate - how much poorer, for example, our lives would be on this forum, those of us who use it. Not a chance, in days gone by, of connecting with like minded people in good ways. Of course there are bad ways, too, but life is never simple, is it. I personally don’t want to be on Facebook or Twitter, so I’m not. I can choose to opt in or out.