Thursday 17 January 2008

the best thing


The best thing about being a parent is when your child becomes a parent! There is no muss or fuss. Unconditional love, with no pressure. Lots of hugs and kisses and no discipline!

In the day and age, technology really changes our interactions. Today I had the pleasure of going on Skype with my granddaughter, or course her parent's were there, too!

I wonder how this changes the nature of families?
We live 450 km away, and travel across this province is difficult in the winter months. This technological invention has really changed our lives. For me, living in a remote area, life is vastly improved. I can access newspapers that are not readily available. I can see videos of those things going on in the world that make life interesting, frustrating, or just plain scary.

The question is, does this bring the world closer together or farther apart?

Technology is a necessity in business. Those who most need to be in touch with the world in underdeveloped countries still cannot access technology.

Many in Ottawa, with a transit strike that has crippled the city, are spending much time in transit. The lucky workers who can work from home do. I don't think that working from home is the be-all and end-all for most. (I used to like that evolution as I drove to work: gradually I removed my 'mom' hat and transformed into teacher.) I am using the Internet and my blogs to flog my book: DyingDignity . And many other do, as well. For those who make the least money (service industry: hourly paid workers) this is not an option.

For workers in industry, whose skills are used to put things together, they are the least served by technology as improvements in industrialization has seen fewer workers managing more bigger, better (?) machines doing more work. Outsourcing, in terms of technology, and the impact on workers is a dangerous practice. (The Art of Outsourcing Information Technology: How Culture and Attitude Affect Client-Vendor Relationships) You MUST read the Wal*Mart Effect for more information. The World Is Flat by Thomas L Friedman, opened up my eyes, too. However, some of his premises only apply to those with money, and access to high-tech. Friedman described 10 'flatteners', brilliant in its premise:open sourcing, outsourcing, offshoring, supply chaining (WalMart), insourcing and in-forming, as well as others.

Growing Up Digital speaks of the changes our children's children face, but it is full of generalizations and inaccuracies. It is one thing to predict the influences of the Interent, another to invent influences that truly do not exist for most families! I wonder how the job losses the media predicts will change Canada in the next year or two. I also wonder how much influence the media has had on the impact of economic crisis with their doom and gloom reporting.

Certainly, print media has lost jobs with The Globe & Mail, Toronto Star, laying off employees. (Of course, if you want to read about those - you should visit OTHER media sources!) I have noticed that all of my lapsed magazine subscriptions are coming back to me with cheap deals. Their advertisers are having an influence on this, since they need a certain subscriber base to keep up ad revenues. As a retiree, on pension, I take one day at a time.

4 comments:

Frank Baron said...

You covered a lot of ground on this post Jennifer. :)

I don't think we're too far away from cheap hand-held communication devices connected world-wide, wirelessly. Except for the "cheap" part, we're pretty much there. But it is going to become increasingly important that such devices be available to all, or the gap between the haves and have-nots will widen even more.

Congrats on the grandchild. Hope I experience the pleasure of my own one day. :)

softinthehead said...

Jennifer = thanks for dropping by my blog, I just wanted to return the favour and I will be back. I think Skype is great, I just need to get my son a webcam as he can see me (all the way over in Austria) but I can't see him!

bookbabie said...

Great post. My husband is using technology more in his business and yes, Skype is wonderful. I'm fortunate that my first granddaughter will be only ten minutes away though:)

Jenn Jilks said...

How wonderful for you, bookbabie! 10 min. away is terrific. My grandmother babysat us while my mother worked. (I'm 52!) It was a precious time for us.