How technology can help families come closer

Talk of technology to anyone who is not into the world of technology and the usual reactions are

‘It is deriding families of the “family time” that they had earlier’

‘It is a bane to the social system. It is an invasion on our family’s privacy’

‘Our children just don’t speak to us. They avoid family outings and gatherings. All they want is their PS2s or Nintendos or mobiles’

‘The gadgetized world is going to tear apart the tradition of families’

blah blah blah!!

The list is never ending. However I do not agree to it. I truly do not feel that technology is averse to the closeness within a family or any relationship. But before I explain why I feel so let me tell you I am a purely NON-TECHNOLOGY person. I am a people’s person. I am a books’ person. I need to see, feel, touch things or people to understand them. But I have learnt over a period of time that technology can be used to my advantage and to achieve what I enjoy. Technology is not my enemy anymore (it was earlier).

And yeah when I say technology here I am not talking of NASA’s space projects or a breakthrough in medical science. I am talking of technology that we see around. That affects us directly. Technology that we have to deal with wishfully or forcefully .

Alright now, how is it that I have managed to enslave technology and not the other way round? Simple because I have learnt to update myself on technology and when to switch it on and off.

The first thing that I learnt was that I WILL have to educate myself on technology or become a moth-eaten, timed-out obsolete individual with levels of self-confidence dropping at an alarming rate.

I chose to survive. I decided to look stupid rather than become extinct. I mean I started questioning simplest of simple things. Things like what is bluetooth ( I don’t believe I didn’t know that!), what is the difference between yahoo and yahoomail, how do I text a message, etc. etc. In short I was laughed at many a times.

With this gumption I took to the world of technology and today I feel that it can (and at times even does) help families come together and not grow apart. So sticking to the topic of how families can use technology for strengthening family ties I would say

Learn the use of it. Especially elders. Evolve or become extinct. Don’t expect your children to have meaningful conversations with you when you cannot even spot the difference between a PS2 and a Nintendo or a CD and a DVD.

Now assuming that you have learnt the basic ropes of computers, internet, mobiles and video games how do you make the most of them?

• Join the most frequently used social networking sites in your group. It could be any like facebook, myspace, orkut, bebo, hi5, etc. Don’t fall for the cynics words that it is only for the teenagers and college-going kids.
• Text your friends or family not just on certain occasions but simply to share a nice thought or just to say good morning!
• Ask the younger lot about whicht are the latest favorites in terms of video games or PC games.
• Play those games. You may be ultimately pathetic in the first go but doesn’t matter. You would at least not feel like an idiot when next time they use the game’s jargon.
• Surf the net frequently. The language barrier on internet is slowly coming down and you can find almost everything in your own language.
• Moreover the net has an awesome amount of information on everything and especially technology. Learn about something that your children or spouse too would not know about and act like tech-guru when you disclose your knowledge.
• Send virtual gifts. After all they cost you nothing!
• Use applications like Google doc, spreadsheets and calenders to plan family vacations or outings. And believe me there are families who do it. I just came across one such person whose blog is titled Postmodern Puritan.
• Define times when to use the gadgets and when to switch them off. Have ground rules laid like ‘Mobiles to switched off in bed’ or ‘No video games after 10′
• But yeah don’t play the spoil sport always. I mean don’t curse others when they are having a good time with it. If you cannot comprehend it or update yourself on it, you have no right to snatch away other’s pleasure of being in sync with the world.
• Don’t fall for lame logics like ‘the world survived before the advent of the computer’, ‘technology lacks human touch’. Because if you do fall for it, keep in mind you are choosing extinction over evolution.
• And hey, after all technology IS human made. Could you imagine a generation ago about sharing your birthday party’s photos instantly with everyone you know or learning about your distant cousin’s illness in moments?

So please don’t curse technology if you can’t make head or tail out of it. It is you who need to update yourself.

And if you still don’t believe me, you should meet my mother. She could hardly handle the mouse but that was until she found that her long lost game of Tetris was now available on my teenage brother’s laptop. Since that day my mother is hooked to it and it has now become more of her laptop than his. And of course on the way she has learnt the difference between ‘C’- the programming language and ‘C:’!!!

And not to mention, it has brought the two of them closer as they now have something to discuss even if it is about teasing my mother on her naivety in computers.

So, you see technology DOES help families come together. Only that you should learn how to use it.

[I had just completed the post when I came across this website on technorati that lists a number of vendors who print a few copies of photos for free! Now can you beat that? Not just share pics for free but even print them for free?! And who was talking of family being pulled apart by technology?]