Are we really that Connected?
Recent power outages in my country prompted me to think on how important is it, really, to be so 'connected' in today's world? (Cartoon by Leunig whose excellent drawings are an ideal antidote for today's 'overclocked world.')
I was brought up in rural South Africa. In my area, no electricity until I was 17. No Net, TV, or Cell phone, just a shared farm party line between about 10 farms, with up to half an hour wait to connect to the nearest town. Only lamps, candles and hot water from a fire under a drum or wood stove. The "fridge" was a box out in the shade, meshed with cinder brick, over which water flowed. Ice we got from the occasional hail storm in summer, or frozen pond in winter. No coke and the only fizzy drinks we saw were at rich kids birthday parties. Otherwise CoolAid, or my mother's delicious ginger beer she made in summer. Sometimes only soap, salt or charcoal for toothpaste! No supermarkets, yet we could pick fruit and vegetables directly off the tree and out of the earth. We lived under a tin roof that leaked needing buckets underneath, but we could actually hear the rain. Only dirt roads, needing mud chains on car tires in the wet summers season, and journeys through clouds of dust during the dry winters. We never rushed for antibiotics and Doctors. My grandmothers concoctions and treatments were sufficient, at little cost and with no side effects.
I've never regretted my childhood. I had a freedom and closeness to my environment and others, that today's 'city kids' will never know or appreciate.
We were not "connected" like now, yet in many ways we were MORE connected as human beings, and had the time for each other. Also we had books, books, books. (even if we had to read by candlelight!:).
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Maybe we have "too" much connection now?
We are " on call " 24 hours a day due to our connections.
Simpler times.
Less rush.
More connection. The human kind :)
I read in an orthopedic journal recently that many people, especially youngsters, are starting to get chronic neck problems. Why? All from constantly staring down at their cell phones and tablets!
Haha. Have you watched how fast their thumbs move?
Hey eerie also as there can be a few kids together yet none are speaking.
Each is on a cell phone in their own little world.
So true! I believe there are now "thumb problems" also developing. (Bit like "tennis elbow" that comes from using too much mouse and keyboard:) Our modern world!
I loved reading your story. I didn't grow up like that but I'm sure there's a lot to be said for doing so. I did grow up in a time when there was NO computers or cell phones (we had party lines too), your mother had that dreadful mercurichrome (sp?), vaseline or aspirin to fix all your hurts, food was prepared fresh and I could be gone all day and my mother wouldn't worry as long as I was home at 5:00 for dinner (NOT 5:01 mind you -- LOL). Have we progressed? I suppose it all depends on your perspective but I'd go back in a heartbeat. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks Sui,
We had what we called "Gentian Violets" (Mercurochrome?) or worse Methyalate, which burned like hell. For tight chests etc my gran would boil gum tree leaves which we would have to breath in. "Blood poisoning" in the foot? (we were ALWAYS barefoot:) Just dip in boiling hot water containing salt or 'Condy's crystals. Constipated? 1/2 cup of (yuk!) epsom salts. Toilet was 'long drop' at bottom of garden, full of insects, spiders and other creepy crawlies, which I would study for hours!
Agreed, I would also go back, if not just for the the simplicity and warmth that life could offer then...but then, maybe that feeling is universal in childhood, until the 'real world' encroaches.
Excellent read! A few years ago while travelling in rural Africa it struck me very forcefully how this was the first time I had ever gone for miles without seeing a street light or any sign of electricity - groups of people huddled around fires for light and heat. Its struck me that this was the way it has always been for humans before the advent of electricity - we take so much for granted.....
I often tell my husband I wish we could just go back a couple of decades, not because it was easier, but because there seemed to be more core values. It's sad to see the state of the world today.
I guess one just has to try to change the circumstances we're in to suit us however we're able to or just accept thing as they are. There will always be what we like and dislike.
The world has always been in a sad state. I think back to my parents time, WW2 and before that WW1 etc
You reminded me of my childhood. There was a lack of everything, but we rarely missed anything. My first seven years were through communism government. It was not that long ago but it seems as another life.
Yes I think today we often have too much of everything and is it making us any happier? I wonder...
Love the picture you paint of your childhood. Living where I do in rural Scotland I'm quite often left without electric but I have my candles and shelves full of books. :)
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That reminds me of some very good friends of my parents in the 70s, who were fairly wealthy and owned a huge cattle farm between Pietersburg and Louis Trichard.
The farmhouse was very old, had dung floors and an outside toilet. In the kitchen, there was a massive coal stove that burned 24/7, and the house was lit by gas lamps, and the telephone was a party-line; remember "nommer asseblief"?
We used to love spending weekends there.
The farm was sold in 1984, and nothing had changed.