“But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Exodus 9:16 (NIV)
Those who know me realize I have a love/hate relationship with technology. On the positive side, it allows me to work from home so I get to be at home, raising my kids and still the “heart of the home” while helping earn a paycheck and contributing financially to the household. It also has allowed me to begin a ministry with the writing of books, creation of this blog and other aspects of life that God has led me into. Additionally, it has helped me reconnect with friends I wouldn’t otherwise have been able to find again as our lives took separate paths, many states apart, so the creation of Facebook and use of email have a special place in my heart for those reasons. Google? I’ll take Google any day over the set of encyclopedias we used to own; although I have to say, I think it’s made me lazier because now I use it for everything.
However, those who know me also know the parts I consider the negative side of technology. I hate that people don’t seem to talk to each other as much anymore. Even someone like me, who hates to be “on” technology when I’m not working, I find that I will take out my phone and scroll through Facebook instead of looking up and engaging with people within arm’s reach. Since most of my working hours are spent in front of a screen, I prefer, when given the chance, to turn things off, pick up an old fashioned paperback book at the end of the day and escape versus flipping on a Kindle or Nook. However, there are some books I only have access to via eBook, so I will gladly choose reading the rich content anyway I can get it, even if I means via technology.
One way kids love to connect now a days is through technology and I’m a bad mom, because when my kids say, “Can I show you something?” I cringe and my first instinct is to say, “No.” Not that I don’t want to connect with them and their interests; it’s just that either I’m working on a deadline on my own technology or my eyes and brain have had enough stimulation from screens that I don’t want to be entertained that way anymore. I need to learn the heart behind the request and that when I say “yes,” I’m saying yes to the opportunity to connect with them, not staring at more technology.
While I’ll probably always feel a push-pull toward and against technology, I’m grateful to live in “such a time as this.” This is the era God chose for me to live in, to raise my family in and to influence others through. He made me part Little House on the Prairie, part modern working woman for a reason. It’s not my job to figure out why, but it is my responsibility to listen to His still small voice and look up and connect face-to-face or look down and choose connection with my kids as He invites me to.
What about you? Do you have a love/hate relationship with technology or do you just love it or just hate it?
© Cheri Swalwell 2017