Fatherhood

As a parent ... raised in the days of voice contact, seeing children converse in the same room via cell phones and fingers ... I feel like a throw-back, a relic of some lost age. Even today, I find myself cringing when I call and get an automated system. What happened to our conversational skills. The question today is, who needs a voice when our children can tap on a touch screen faster and more efficiently than any of us ever though possible. Hung up on inflection and tone, can't we just hop on Skype for those important conversations (yes, you can connect Skype directly to the television). Parents are important in this new age of technology ... someone has to buy the phone, maintain the plan, and replace damaged devices. We even have to tell our children to stop texting at the dinner table, as well as to turn the phone off before going to bed. Being a parent and watching my child's fascination ... and, eventually becoming an extension of the phone, I sometimes wonde...

My spell-check is highlighting the word "texting" ... not in the computer's dictionary.  In 21st century lexicon, texting is both a noun and an adjective ... both an object and a description of an activity. To me ... a computer squid, it seems odd, but texting is something I've simply learned to live with.  I have always preferred talking to someone rather than sending a text or speaking with a machine.  I know computers, but have little interest in living large parts of my life on them ... there needs to be, as with anything, a balance. Over the years, I've developed a philosophy in relation to communications (outside of work).  I've always kept my phone separate from my e-mail separate from my iPOD/iPAD with my calendar.  Only recently have I even spent the money on a texting plan (kind of got battered into that one).  I have always explained the philosophy, in part, as keeping the devices separate based on the type of use as a means of maintaining ...