Remember When?

The other day my 10 year old asked me, "Mom, what was your email address before you married Daddy?" I paused, because I really had to think.  When did I even get an email address?  "Um, I think I had one in college and it was just my name and my college name."  I was puzzled though, I couldn't remember exactly when email became the hype.  My junior year of college? My senior year? She pressed on, "What about before college?" Now I had to fess up. "I didn't have one."  Cue the dismay.
"What!?! How did you TALK to people?" At this point, I could have gotten into semantics, and told her that email is not talking, but that would have been a really annoying "mom thing" to do, so I ignored it and answered, "Either we called each other, or wrote letters...and put stamps on them, and mailed them at the post office. Gasp!" By the time I finished explaining communication in the dark ages of my childhood, I felt archaic. How did I live before email?  Of course, there WAS email prior to me going to college (I'm not that ancient), but only nerds had email accounts way back then.

This conversation was prompted by the fact that the internet has been non-functioning all week at my work, and I have nearly gone crazy. Email is chiefly how I communicate with everyone these days, and I became painfully aware of that. Additionally, for some reason, even my phone wouldn't receive email messages while I was in the building for work, so I was cut off, four hours every day.  Torture, right? For me, email is communication at its finest.  Minimal effort is required in sending an email. I can rearrange wording, set tone, take breaks, trash a message that I don't like; however, a phone conversation requires me finding ways to occupy my children for the duration of the call, actively engaging by listening and participating in a conversation, thinking before I speak, and in general it requires a lot more time than email. If I ever call someone, it is a necessity. Either that, or the person is REALLY important to me. Conversely, the same can be said if I actually answer your phone call.  Now you know my secrets, and whether you are special to me or not.

Today, I have been so busy that I have had very little opportunity to relish any internet time.  As I cleaned my house, I pondered that it was no wonder Ma Ingalls was able to get so much done during the day. She didn't have the internet distracting her at every turn.  Or the phone. Or extracurricular activities that required her to hitch the horse to the wagon and take her kids all around the countryside to cultivate skills and socialization. In light of this, I have decided that progress is not always a great thing, but I can't cast it completely aside, unfortunately. I have taken baby steps away from some things on the computer, Facebook being one of them, but I could probably trim back other things as well.  As with most things in life, it is striking an appropriate balance.  It is just difficult when you are dealing with something as enticing as the internet.  The whole world is open to you;  from online shopping to connecting with friends many miles away.

The internet connection at my job was restored late this afternoon, so tomorrow I will be reconnected. I wish I could say that it didn't matter either way, but it really does make so many tasks much less cumbersome when I can go online. These transitions of dependency happen so slowly that you don't realize that you have built so much of your life around them until they are gone.  It is a bit of a sobering thought, though.  We have more resources today, but overall we are less resourceful.