Modern Technology

I have a friend who's vacationing in Italy this week and he's keeping his friends and family constantly informed (and jealous) about his whereabouts on Facebook. He talks to his two young daughters via Skype nightly. He even found a wireless Internet connection at the top of Mt. Vesuvius and sent a photo to Facebook instantaneously.

It got me to thinking how my life and my relationships with the people I've met would've been different if I'd been born in the 90s instead of the 70s. What if every time I moved from Alabama to San Diego to Italy to Minnesota then back to San Diego I never lost touch with any of my friends, because I could talk to them face-to-face for free every night on Skype and send them instant messages at any time of day or night on Facebook and Twitter?

When I was in junior high and high school, if I wanted to talk to any of my friends back in Alabama or California, I had to send them a letter, which took at least a week to get to them, then wait for them to write me back. That could take weeks or even months by the time they got around to responding to my letter. We didn't call each other, because long distance calls were too expensive (especially overseas calls) and we didn't have cell phones with free nights and weekends or unlimited text messaging.

Now, I'm back in touch with friends and family I haven't seen or spoken to in years, even decades, because we're "friends" on Facebook. I know all about their vacations, their kids' first days at school and their work frustrations. We offer each other encouragement, congratulations, condolences and advice, as needed. Maybe one day we'll even make plans -- via Facebook -- to meet in person. Who knows? But we probably wouldn't have even considered it if we hadn't reconnected online.

Facebook would've saved me a lot of anxiety as a teenager. When I was feeling alone after my first day at a new school in a new town (or a new country), I could've reached out to my best friend from the last place I lived for encouragement and a reminder that I wasn't alone.

Oh, well. At least I have Facebook now. I can see what everybody's up to whenever I want ... even if it's just to find out what they had for lunch today.