CFN – I always marvel when people recoil from the internet or websites like Facebook. They’re tools; inanimate unless people do something with them, like broccoli or automatic hand guns.
I of course love using the internet. CFN after all (contrary to our local daily and mayor) is an online Newspaper.
Our survival is dependent on people having access and using the internet, but with Smart TV’s, tablets and Smart phones everything is changing.
I get asked why I don’t use my personal Facebook. I also get people making comments like :
…daily we as human beings seem to stride further and further away from each other. The Internet is breeding a very lonely bunch of people who seem to be interacting with each other more than ever.
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Sounds like an oxymoron because it essentially is. I think there needs to be more human to human interaction as opposed to digital Communication. We’re losing touch of those good old wholesome handshakes, pats on the back, and face to face conversation… I think that your article really embodies the realities of how we’re losing touch with socializing “in person”. And the “Internet era” has left people hating behind a computer screen.
Those are the bumps in the road as we evolve how we communicate. This week I was chatting with someone about why they didn’t simply call me on the phone instead of texting. (I kinda don’t like texting) Of course there are times I have four Facebook chat windows open while talking on one phone line with one on hold.
We do interact differently since the advent of Cell Phones and the internet. It’s amazing. Look at any kid today and they have grown up with a cell phone and computers. I still remember Black and White TV. 🙂
So it was a shock coming across someone I went to grade school with on Facebook. Even more shocking to see a class pic from when I was 11! I connected with a handful of kids from back then, and then I connected with the very first girl I ever dated.
Can you remember your first date? As I pulled that file from my oozing CPU we call a brain I remember fear.
Top 20 Songs of 1975 – Bill Board Chart
| Position | Artist | Song Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Captain and Tennille | Love Will Keep Us Together |
| 2 | Glen Campbell | Rhinestone Cowboy |
| 3 | Elton John | Philadelphia Freedom |
| 4 | Freddy Fender | Before The Next Teardrop Falls |
| 5 | Frankie Valli | My Eyes Adored You |
| 6 | Earth, Wind and Fire | Shining Star |
| 7 | David Bowie | Fame |
| 8 | Neil Sedaka | Laughter In The Rain |
| 9 | Eagles | One Of These Nights |
| 10 | John Denver | Thank God I’m A Country Boy |
| 11 | Bee Gees | Jive Talkin’ |
| 12 | Eagles | Best Of My Love |
| 13 | Minnie Riperton | Lovin’ You |
| 14 | Carl Douglas | Kung Fu Fighting |
| 15 | Doobie Brothers | Black Water |
| 16 | Sweet | Ballroom Blitz |
| 17 | B.J. Thomas | (Hey Wont You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song |
| 18 | Tony Orlando and Dawn | He Don’t Love You (Like I Love You) |
| 19 | Janis Ian | At Seventeen |
| 20 | Average White Band | Pick Up The Pieces |
We were innocent. We had Socials at each other’s houses where the lights would go off and some of those songs would play while we tried to figure out what to do with each other as our pre-pubescent hormones raced. Anyone watch Dazed and Confused? It was kinda like that, but with more snow in Chomedy Laval.
My mom drove us on our first date. We played Mini-Golf, Ping Pong and then went to McDonald’s. As I write this I wonder how many first dates in North America took place at Mickey D’s?
So after chatting, and then phoning, and a few false starts by me we met in Ottawa, at the Byward Market, for our second date 35+ years after our first.
Life. We both had lived. She had a few marriages and children. I’m in the process of my first divorce. We both had moved and traveled, and at this middle point of our lives reconnected. It was freaky weird in the sense that at a certain level we knew each other. Similar background; similar child hood history; some of the same terms of speech and mannerisms. There was an amazing comfortable familiarity. It was nice. It was special.
We talked about so many subjects. We walked. While deciding where to have lunch we both laughed at the Mickey D’s sign, but you can never go back 🙂
When I was young connecting was about something very different than as I got older. Each decade that clicks by in our lives I think changes what we expect out of our relationships. It’s a wonder when I see a couple together for 20, 30, 40, or 50 years. Imagine getting most of what we want out of a mate from just one single person? What a concept.
But age and some wisdom can teach us a lot. I know it has me.
As I kissed her good bye and started the hour plus drive back to Cornwall I had much to think about; to remember, to think my strange thoughts. Time flies so fast, so many people touched, paths crossed, good things, bad things.
Life is a wonderful thing. Will we go out again? Will we be friends? Will we become a middle aged Julia Roberts movie?
Only life can answer that one.
Do you remember your first date ever?
You can post your comments below.
