In my last posting I wrote about the problems that I see in today's electronic world.  I ranted about the way that people isolate themselves by being plugged into earbuds at all times, how people cannot walk through a grocery store without stopping to check their messages, about how children must have a video on at all times, and about how electronic toys are stealing children's imaginations.  I truly meant all of these things when I wrote them, and I still believe that they are true. 

But -oops! - several weeks ago we decided to change service providers for our phone, television, and internet in order to save money.  We were moving right on schedule, and the television service was installed with no problems, but the internet and phone did not come when they were expected.  I made a quick phone call to see when they were coming, only to discover that they were not coming.  I spoke reasonably, I begged, I pleaded, I even yelled (in a fairly calm manner), but to no avail.  Our paperwork had not been completed - much like talking to the children about a problem, no one had made the mistake - and we would not be hooked up for ten days.

My greatest concern was the telephone, since we have a number of family and friends who might want to contact us.  We do have cells, but they are the pay-as-you-go type, and can be expensive if we talk too much.  Still, I am reasonable, mature adult, so I should be able to handle this.  After all, for most of my life some of these items never even existed.

When one of my daughters was about thirteen, our telephone was out for a day.  She went through withdrawals, and when the repairman finally came I could have kissed him on the lips.  I have always laughed at this, or at least I did until I did ten days with no internet and very limited telephone.

The internet was really the worst, since I email my family, read blogs and articles, and google anything that catches my interest.  Believe it or not (and I had trouble believing it), Facebook was the worst.  I am used to checking frequently to see if my family, and especially my grandchildren, are doing anything new or noteworthy (or, in the case of my grandson, which body part he has hurt now).  I could check it quickly at work, but weekends were dry.  I couldn't see what the family or my friends were doing, and I couldn't voice my opinion on my friend's posts and pictures.  Even worse, I couldn't save the world by shooting bubbles at giant spiders or scheming witches.

I was happy to be reconnected and back to my internet.  I still think that we are too hooked into our electronics, but I am beginning to understand how people can become so hooked into them.  I have become accustomed to going online whenever I want to put a library book on hold, find a new recipe, follow the political news, or look for a new idea.  I will never go be one of those people who are hooked into the internet all day long, but I have found that I depend on it much more than I had realized.