Let me tell you a story. This is before COVID, blogs, social media platforms and hard drives that can hold terrabytes of information.
In a way, it was a simpler time because we didn’t have all the distractions of social media eating up our days, which of course is our own fault for using them so much. They’re designed to keep us coming back, like weird little Internet crack dealers.
I can’t promise that I am 100% accurate on this, but when my daughter was younger – I’m guessing around 10 – she was allowed to access certain sites (read: parent-approved) on the Internet. I know we had an Apple desktop before they got to be all-in-one and skinny. Mine was a big one with a full size CPU and stuff. It may have been an iMac…I just can’t remember.
Anyway, my lovely daughter was messing around on the computer while I was folding clothes in the bedroom. She came flying into the bedroom saying, “Mom! I won a computer!”
I had been familiar with the scammers and phishers, with their pop-ups on screen and such for a few years. So, I went to the computer with her and had to watch her face wash over in disappointment as I explained what these pop-ups were and silently thanking all that is Holy that some weird porn pop-up didn’t appear instead of the computer one.
We sat together and I blocked pop-ups while she watched. I know I’m biased, but I have a smart kiddo. After that she’d come talk to me about the “dumb pop-up” that she saw (some of them can get through pop-up blocker).
For some reason, I’ll never forget her face in that moment, when she got one of her first lessons about how life isn’t all sunshine and roses.
She’s an adult now, living on her own, and I’m very proud of her. And she is not stuck to the phone or computer. I’ll have to ask her if she remembers that day. I think it served her well, as heartbreaking as it was for both of us.
I know I might seem hypocritical because I’m sitting here AT A COMPUTER typing this out to share with you guys. That being said, writing is mostly what I do on my machine. I get on Facebook if I HAVE TO because I manage a few sites for clients. I use Twitter to share my clients’ information, and sometimes post pictures of my cat. I use LinkedIn to keep my finger on the heartbeat of the US job market. I don’t have an Instagram, Tik-Tok or any of the other plethora of social apps.
And I’m not trying to say that all social media sucks or that commercials turn us into zombies or whatever. In fact, a lot of people realized that the world isn’t all hunky-dory doing something totally different than being on the computer.
Do you have a moment when the world fell off its pedestal that you’d like to share? Leave it in the comments!
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