Yesterday, my dad, whom I have NOT seen in several YEARS (that's a LONG time) told me that he is coming to Ohio for a visit in a few weeks! I talked to him yesterday, and he was all smug and proud of himself for knowing about our mouse problem. I asked him how he knew and he said, "I read your blog!" Wow! It's so great when the elderly take advantage of technology. (That was totally for fun, Dad. I don't think of you as elderly. And to get you back for thinking I was a total weenie about the mouse.)
Actually, it's funny, this generation gap thing. The people of my generation think nothing of putting our life out there for all to see. We have profiles on Facebook and update them daily. This is what I'm eating, listening to, reading, watching. These are my other friends. Here are my latest photos. Here are my stories. The older people in my life are baffled, for the most part. "Why would you want people to read all that? Why do you want them to know all of your business?" And I am baffled right back: why wouldn't I want that? I'm not going to put ages on this, because there are exceptions to the rule, but in general, younger people crave these virtual connections. If I can go online and read about my college friends' lives, friends I haven't seen in almost ten years, you bet I'm going to. I can see what my cousins in Paraguay, Canada, Mansfield, Brooklyn, and California are doing. That is so valuable to me! And they can see what I am doing. It has drawn us closer to each other, it has made us more acquainted. I love them better for it. I don't understand this privacy issue of the older generations. Heidi, who is older but NOT elderly (not like my dad, at least), took a long time to come around to a different point of view. She has her own blog now, but she looks at it in a totally different way from me. Maybe she'll do a post about this, because I don't want to speak for her. Anyways, my dad, old fart that he is, asked me the inevitable question of why anyone would want people to know all that stuff. This was mostly in response to my urging him to get his own Facebook account. Because, Dad. Because I haven't seen you in years. Because I miss you. Because the internet makes you not so far away. And it's not people, that random, faceless crowd we're convinced is dying to watch us and know our every move. It's me. It's your family.
Personally, I have no idea how I lived without my blog, my friends' blogs, and the internet. Maybe that's a bad thing, like I'm handicapped without it. But that's the way it is.
Oh PLEASE, Uncle John! Get Facebook! You don’t know how many times I have thought about you over the years and would love to even see a big question mark for your face … just to know you’re out there somewhere(Explain the question mark thing for a profile picture, Allyson, so he doesn’t think I’m being rude :). It would also be good for you to see some of us nieces and nephews as adults now instead of the pipsqueaks that we were when we were last part of your life! 🙂
Allyson, I’m so thankful for your blog because it HAS brought me closer to you. I love knowing who you are in a way that I couldn’t know living so far away from you. I pray for you often and wonder how things are for you (like w/mice and foster kids and even trips to markets w/Aunt Heidi). I love being connected by blogs, yet I’m still one of those that hesitates putting it all out there for everyone to see/read. My blog was for family to know what’s up with us and to pull us from the four corners of the earth into one tiny screen where we’re close again. Don’t give up on blogging! I’d miss you! 🙂
It’s not a bad thing to keep in touch on the internet- but I’m finding it is an addictive thing! This morning when I couldn’t go online I almost panicked! Oh no! I can’t connect with anyone! And then I remembered my cell phone and called you! the nice thing about facebook and blogs is that they AREN’T faceless- they’re friends. Or they will be soon!
With my immediate family–and extended family–as spread out as they are, the tools on the internet have bridged a gap that I can’t and won’t(!) go back across. In the early days of email (at least for Paraguay) when we found out within minutes that Brandon had fallen out a window and prayer was requested, it was a privilege to pray immediately. Previously, it would have been around two weeks until we got the mailed letter or many $$ on the phone bill.
So yeah, we’re in all the way, too.
My mom is scandelized that I blog at all, let alone tell the “WHOLE WORLD” what I dragged out of my refrigerator and made into something wonderful for lunch.
However, with Jake in the hospital, I think she is beginning to see the benefits of having blogging friends all over the world who are praying and getting their churches to pray for him.
Who knows; I may be able to convert her!