Technobabble.

As I have said before, my relationship with technology is complex. There are machines I can't live without, and there are gadgets I frankly lust over. And I watch TV (and I like it). And I did, after all that bitching, join Facebook. I admit I even sort of like it a little bit (bastards).

All of it has me thinking about how different life would be without all the gadgets, all the media, all the information and communication. In the past several weeks, I have written what could be a short book on the topic, but lack the technology to transcribe my thoughts as I am falling asleep. (Aside: This is probably a good thing. No one needs to read all the crap I think as I am falling asleep. Not even me.)

Ironically, a mama friend just announced that for the next week she is on a media "fast." I like the idea, and also get completely freaked out by it. No internet, no news, nothing for a whole week?!? She is braver than I. Honestly, I have no idea how we used to basically cut ourselves off from the world when we went to the Bahamas for months at a time when I was small.

But this is sort of emblematic of my love/hate relationship with technology. One the one hand, there are devices that make things infinitely easier in a day. And honestly, while I don't have the time to hang out on Facebook because I have a two year old and a three month old at home right now, just getting connected with people I have not seen in years is (how I loathe to say it) fun. It's great for making playdates, and even for starting new mama friendships.

And then there is the other hand.

I end up spending way too much time with technology - in front of the TV, in front of the computer, driving places to hang out in air conditioning, at the grocery store... There is a part of me that really tries to make time for things like knitting and reading, but with limited relaxation time, TV usually wins. Even if it's just the news, or shows to occupy Henry while I nurse Toby, the TV is on way too much in our house. And so are computers. And cell phones.

I would love to get back to super-basics, and learn to make everything from scratch so we are eating close to the earth, and locally as much as possible. Since Toby's allergic to soy and dairy, I can eat very few processed things right now, and it's making me realize how much processed crap I give Henry - even though I really very actively try to give him foods that are not processed. When I think about how much time I would need to pick up to, say, make my own jams and jellies, bake my own bread, make my own yogurt and rice milk, etc., I realize just how much of my day I lose to technology. The trade off for getting the time to sit and read the New York Times online (headlines only for me these days, but still) and watch my trashy TV for a couple of hours in the evening is losing those hours for everything else. Getting to keep up with all my friends from college on Facebook may mean I am losing hours of face time with new friends in my community, and that's kind of sad, huh?

I have no real answers here, and don't think I could even last one week without all my gadgets. In fact, I have a great big list of new stuff I would love to have because it would definitely make my life easier (I will be sharing it in the next few days so you can see how my gears are turning). I'm OK with wanting stuff, and some of the trade-offs that happen. But, I am going to work on cutting back and making the balance skew a bit more toward face time, basics, and creating love for those things in the boys. Let's hang out sometime.