Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2007 / Technology has changed our daily life — and now our family gatherings
Technology has changed our daily life —
and now our family gatherings
Marylynn G. Hewitt, SFO of The Michigan Catholic
Published November 30, 2007
 Technology changed our family Thanksgiving. It arrived without an invitation or a favorite dish to pass, but it, as any person, ended up being more than welcome. Its presence was not even noted because in many ways it's seeped in and become an integral part of our own daily lives.
We kept the usual traditions: high hopes for a Lions victory, picking through the turkey for the wishbone, and scraping together a final dollop of whipped cream for the "only-a-penny's-worth-please" piece of pumpkin pie.
Thanksgiving is all about thanking God for what and who we have, celebrating family, eating and conversations involving all 31 of us. In our family, the tradition usually also means watching old home movies. These silent family films are inevitably accompanied by running commentary such as "I can't believe you wore that!" and "How did you sleep with that hair?" It's a good way to show the younger set what it was like "when your parents were your age." So we'd watch these squinting faces trying to smile into the bright six-bulb light bar and then jump around because Dad always said, "OK, now do something." And we'd laugh and remember and be grateful for the family we thanked God for during grace.
This year there was no movie projector. Rather, a laptop was plugged into the large-screen TV and we all gathered around as one and then another took turn showing their digital and internet-based photo galleries. There were youth ministry meetings, mission trips, dancing around an apartment and the construction of a first home for a niece and her husband. We moved to family videos on the YouTube Web site with my gregarious brother doing his own version of "Walk This Way" on our "whole-family vacation" and onto favorite videos of other family members. No one needed to splice together frayed footage, no bulbs burned out and there was no waiting to thread the projector with another reel.
In many ways what young adults think is funny, is not so different from what we in middle age used to laugh at as well. We saw one nephew's YouTube favorites of updated versions of "Candid Camera" stunts on unsuspecting bystanders. And then one sister, the mother of eight, picked "The Mom Song Sung to William Tell Overture with Lyrics." It's a delight whether you watch from the perspective of being a mom or having one. (OK, we did watch "Miss Teen South Carolina" and let the grade-schoolers see that geography and maps are important.)
Yes, there are precautions to be taken with all forms of technology – as with much of anything.
But because of technology, we don't have to wait to be together to share in each other's daily lives. We call on cell phones, text each other and e-mail photos and links to photo albums. While vast miles may not separate us, busy lives have. But we stay in touch with "Dear Siblings" group notes and links to things we think the others might want to know about. It's much like when we were growing up and Mom would clip newspaper articles, hang them on the kitchen door with a big "All read!" note.
We, and technology, have changed with the times. But we're still family. And that's something to be thankful for every day.
Marylynn G. Hewitt, SFO, is the managing editor of The Michigan Catholic. Contact her at mgh@aod.org.
|
