The Interweb

Good morning, my readers. It must be humid where I live, because I feel hot and yucky. I don’t like humidity. It makes me feel like washing my face 20 times a day. And of course showering does nothing, cus you’re wet again right after you dry off.

I’m trying to remember life before smart phones. I know there was a period of years right before smart phones where I felt like I needed a little computer in my pocket. And I figured there would be one soon enough.

Before I had iPhones, I had a blackberry, but it was already outdated when I got it. I couldn’t do very much with it, but I could text. And I did. I texted the bejesus out of my friends from work at night.

At first it took me forever to send one message. But then I got really good at it and my friends couldn’t keep up with me. I dunno why, I only type with my middle finger. I can’t be that fast!

I got iPhone 4 because I was pregnant with Desmond, and I wanted good baby pictures. Unfortunately, I don’t know what happened to my Desmond baby pictures. I only have Aislyn baby pics on my phone, now. Only from 2017 on. I must have upgraded phones at that time but not recovered all the data from a previous phone? I don’t know.

I have iPhone XR now. I’m not crazy about it.

We talk about how at UNH in the 1990s, everyone walked around with cigarettes in their hands. Now you go on campus and no one’s without a phone.

I think about how different my whole adolescence would’ve been if I had had internet. I was finishing high school when it was just starting to become “a thing”. But it was still so new at that time, that only a few people actually used it, my tech-savvy friends.

I think about how it might have given me a voice when I had none. Because although I didn’t talk much, I sure could write.

But then I think, I was old school bullied in the early 90s. Wouldn’t I probably have been cyber bullied, if we had had internet?

I’ve heard it’s among the worst types of bullying, because it’s there 24/7. I at least could go home at the end of the day knowing it was over until the next day.

I just hope my kids never fall prey to any kind of bullying. How could I protect them from that? Can’t parental involvement actually make things worse? Or is that an antiquated way of thinking?

I don’t know. I just hope I never have to worry about it.

I have to go and play PJ Masks with Aislyn, now. Thanks for reading 😊