Byte Out Conversation

This morning as I was sitting at my computer, a rant came to mind.  Are you ready?  Here it goes.  Sometimes I'm really miffed at technology.  For what we have gained all in the want of convenience, we have lost in great portions as well.  With that said, I recognize technology as bitter-sweet.
 
Mind you, the ability to read my words twenty minutes from now is all based on technology.  Paperless letters illuminated dim or bright are suspended before you and they are raining onto the screen as I type.  Magic.  I'm a hypocrite in a way for I remain dependent on this innovation.  I hate technology and yet I love it all at the same time.  Confused?  Well, give me a chance to explain...my simple rant...in opposition of technology.
 
Dinner.  It is the one meal where we all sit down and connect.  It doesn't matter if we are discussing the complexities of space travel, dinner is family time.  I work hard to prepare a hot meal aiming for 6 o'clock.  Admittedly, some recipes are more elaborate than others.  Last week I made pork chops with a cilantro pesto that would knock your socks off...other times I am all for convenience.  A simple burger with potato wedges and a fresh garden salad...no matter, I do my best to provide nourishment and mom conversation.
 
My son will step away from his computer and with an apparent grumpiness he arrives a few minutes late to the dinner table.  There is a glazed look in his eyes, an electronic hang-over for he is still thinking about the battle (game) that he was winning.  I can feel the anger spewing from him, the resentment that mom called him back for a reality break. 
 
You've got to eat son, after all, you're as thin as a rail.
 
So I do my best to invite conversation.  What we discuss all varies depending on current events.  For the purpose of this blog, let's imagine I bring up the finer qualities of pocket lint. 
 
"Do you know there are several different types of pocket lint?  Did you know that it is the perfect medium for sculptures if one is of a creative nature?  If given an opportunity for an art show what sort of pieces would you include using such an interesting recyclable expression?"
 
"Ah-hem," is all that is offered in response.  Really?  I'm speaking about pocket lint and no one seems to hear me.  Pocket lint is cool, is stackable, is moldable and no one seems to comprehend the great importance of this topic.
 
The response is a flat line.  I might as well be dining at a local restaurant surrounded by a hundred strangers.  At least I'd have a server asking if I would like a refill on my coffee...at least I'd have that crumb of polite conversation.
 
I know my family would prefer to be sitting in front of the television zoned out by the mind rot on the screen before them.  Without shouting, "hey I'm here, see me?  I'm not the invisible person who cooks your meals, I'm real and I care."  I'm not sure how to undo the spell that technology has placed over our existence.  We have become emotionally disconnected by dots, pixels and pre-recorded audience laughter.
 
I'm thinking about hiding my plant sprayer under my chair.  The next time I bring up pocket lint without any response, I'll let loose with a few squirts aimed just-so.  Except knowing my family, they would counter with an umbrella to thwart such attempts.  Imagine dinner with one person misting water and everyone else holding an umbrella shield while shoveling down their food.  What we have here is a failure to communicate, what we have is a failure to connect.
 
Smart phones are not allowed at dinner, no tv, text messages, beeps, buzzes or system crashes...look up, ...from six to six thirty let's hang out...and darn it, ask me questions...offer your own pocket lint conversation.  Are you still in there somewhere?  Knock, knock... hello?
 
The silence at dinner time has become deafening.  Please pass the rolls and the butter...thirty minutes is all I ask to surrender the internet, thirty minutes or you'll hear the loudest scream as I pull the plug once and for all...yours.  Power off.  Maybe a disconnect will allow us to reconnect...to reboot our family. 
 
In protest of technology, next week's blog will be seven sentences hand written with a line of ink pens taped together so that I can make about five hundred copies in half the time.  I'll need everyone's address so that I can mail every word directly to you...um, no, not really.  Like I said, technology for me is bitter-sweet, I love-hate it. 
 
Until next time...dinner is at six, with plenty of conversation to follow.  Umbrella is optional.
 
~Trixie Archer