On Technology and Laziness

Oh, hey there!  Remember me?  I used to blog here on a pretty regular basis.  Sometimes up to five or six times a week when life got really exciting.

I wish I could say that my recent bloggy absences were due to something worthwhile.  How awesome would it be if I'd taken up Kung Foo, written the next great American novel, gone backpacking across Europe, or even organized my closets?  Nope, nope, nope...and nope.

Honestly, most of my spare time has been spent playing Candy Crush.  I knew I should have avoided it.  When it started popping up across my Facebook feed, I said to myself, "Summer, that looks like trouble.  You don't need trouble like that in your life.". But surprise, surprise, the girl who has remained steadily overweight for the past three years because she can't pass by a bag of potato chips without her loins aching, gave in to temptation once more.  (It's just left over baby weight, I swear!).

Now, instead of blogging, I play Candy Crush.  Instead of organizing my closets, I play candy crush.  Instead of actively parenting my child, I play Candy Crush.  (That's okay, Maddie Bear, I'm sure you're fine balanced precariously on the top of that stepstool.) Sometimes when I close my eyes, I see neat rows of bright candy stacked up in front of me.  In my dreams, there are no wait times between lives.  

And sometimes I wonder...What did I actually DO with myself before the convience of mobile devices?   We got our iPad when I was pregnant with Madeline.  I know I didn't  spend every waking moment staring at my desktop's screen before that.  So I must have done something else.  Hell, I didn't even have a child to occupy my time back then.  Did I just stare blankly at the wall?  Did I knit blankets for the homeless?  Did I actually shave my legs on a regular basis?  I'm dumbfounded.

All this dependence on technology makes me very curious about Madeline's future.  She already can operate me phone and iPad pretty well.  If she wants to watch a movie or play a game, she knows just how to access those apps.  When she plays with her toy telephone, she uses her index finger to pretend-scroll through the pictures.

I didn't even have a computer in my house unil I was in middle school, and even then my online time was spent browsing Encarta and avoiding the dark mysteries of chat rooms where I was sure to be kidnapped.  As for cellphones?  I didn't own one till college.  I just purchased my first Smart phone a year ago, and it's become another limb.  I forgot it at work last night, and it was so, so sad.

So what's all this mean for Madeline's generation?  Will they have computers embedded in their brains, tracking every thought and movement?  Perhaps she will actualy see Candy Crush in front of her eyes...even when sleeping.

P.S. Please forgive any spelling errors or typos as I'm writing this on my phone.