A long, long time ago (circa 2000) in a place far far away (Chile), I helped start a nonprofit organization called Comité Para La Democratización de la Informática (CDI Chile) which still lives today. At that time, we saw there was a technological revolution with the internet but that a big chunk of the population was being excluded. They did not have access to technology (at that time mostly computers), or if they did, they did not know how to use it. Technology was becoming yet another factor that marginalized lower income communities in that country, but really around the world. I worked on this issue for three wonderful years, and moved back to the United States in 2003. From then on, I’ve thought on and off about technology and its impact on society. But as I dove into a career in social media, and I had children of my own I have thought more about this.
Technology is ubiquitous in my life and I use it for a myriad of things. Because I lived overseas for many years, I use social media to connect with friends across the globe. I use my phone as my main camera and document the lives of my children. I even recorded an entire music video for the Under Armour What’s Beautiful campaign on my phone and then edited on my computer. Check it out:
I also use technology as a digital pacifier. I am not above passing over an IPad or similar device to the back seat of the car to quiet down my kids during a road trip, and I’m not above turning on the television so that I can do some work. This even led to a panel discussion on Huff Post Live with experts much more savvy than I. You can watch that here.
But this summer I crossed the pond to spend six weeks in Portugal and the cost of roaming was much too big for me to bear. I had access to my phone camera from where I took literally THOUSANDS of pictures but that was it. I was hung dry in a wifi desert.
The need for wifi (pronounced wee-fee where we were) became a running joke in our family. Between the four of us, we had a ridiculous amount of isomethings … two laptops, two iphones, two Ipads, and two Ipods … so to have all of this with no connection was like dying of thirst looking at the ocean. Of course that is not what we thought about all the time. We enjoyed being tourists and visiting castles, driving the countryside, and meeting with people. But when we reached a café and realized there was a wee fee code we could use … there was a general feeling of elation. Each one of us would get our gadget, ignore each other, and catch up on emails and such.
It was doing this break that I realized how pervasive technology is in my life. But I decided that its presence was not a bad one … at least not yet. Technology is not all bad nor all good. It is a tool that can be used wisely or stupidly; moderately or excessively and it’s up to us to decide what role we want it to play in our lives. As a blogger, it plays a huge role and I am constantly looking for quicker, better and easier ways to do the things I want to do online. Does that mean that I ignore my children? No. Does that mean I give my children permission to be online as much as I am? No. Does it mean that I need it to do the things I want to do? Yes.
I didn’t realize how much I would need to search for things online until Google was created. I didn’t realize how much I would purchase on Amazon until they began selling things other than books. I didn’t know much I would treasure Facebook until it came to be. I’m grateful CDI Chile is still going strong, and so are other organizations trying to ensure technology is not a factor in increasing the divide between the rich and the poor. And as for me, I’m kind of looking forward to the things I will be able to do in the future that today I don’t even know I need!
How about you? How do you use technology today and what do you think you’ll be able to do in the future that you can’t do right now?
