iLife: How Technology Brings Us Closer

With the announcement of Steve Jobs' passing yesterday, I looked immediately to Twitter with a cynical eye. I knew my Twitter stream would be throttled with news, links to blogs, tribute messages, and most likely spam following Jobs' death. All of these suspicions were confirmed to be true and yet, I smiled.

My cynicism turned on its head and I felt joyful so many people were touched by one man's efforts. Everyone knows it took a wildly creative team to create what Apple did. But Steve Jobs represented something special for people all around the world and it was inspiring to see so many tributes being shared.

Today's death notices, as morbid as it sounds, supply a way to share with others no matter what your connection with the deceased. Because one of my dearest friends died before the age of Twitter, Facebook, and smartphones; I remember him in my mind's eye. I have no pictures, no posts, nothing to remember Jim by outside of my memories. He had no online memorial and I have no way to share with others who loved him, too. Today that makes me feel like he was buried without a tombstone. I have no virtual place to visit and feel connected.

Here in the world of the living, I've witnessed the healing power of community via technology on my own. For a little while I've been living through my own personal Mystery Diagnosis episode and because of my communication online, I've been able to keep up with my friends in spite of having to miss lovely events and conferences that I'd prefer to have attended. Facebook messages, Beluga messages, tweets, and all manner of online notes greet me almost daily with positive thinking and messages to get better. What would I do without today's technology, social media to be exact?

I've been able to learn from community sites with people going through similar medical issues and they have helped me to hone the questions I ask doctors to save time. I've read up on studies and research to help me with symptoms in the meantime.

Ironically, Steve Jobs enabled us to better grieve his passing with his guiding hand on communication's tools. He's enabled me to "be there" faster (faster than I could be physically) as my family has experienced deaths, disaster, and illnesses this year.

Blog posts that assume technology makes us colder make me angry. My connections through Twitter and Facebook have allowed me to heal old wounds with friends, connect with relatives I'd lost track of, and lead members of my home town (Joplin, Missouri) to areas of safety after an EF-5 tornado when calls weren't going through.

I posit technology brings us closer together, helping us to unite in ways never seen before. Pollyanna viewpoint? Perhaps. But I'll stick with it and run. How about you?

Next Update: Installing a USB Port in My Neck and Bluetooth in My Head

When my iPhone 4 died last week, I thought a piece of me died with it. I walked around for two days without the alerts, buzzing, and special rings that had become as commonplace to me as the sound of my own heart beating...perhaps even more commonplace. I was envious when I heard other people's phones ring with familiar sounds and when I was stuck waiting in a line, I had nothing with which to occupy myself during the unexpected wait.

My iPhone has become indispensable to me. It evolved from being a sometimes useful, always entertaining novelty into my Swiss Army Knife for life. There are apps I use to countdown upcoming events, trips, and conferences; apps for tracking my time spent on projects, and regular access to all the social media tools I have come to rely upon for timely information on what is happening in my industry, circle of friends, and from thought leaders around the world. How quickly the world has changed without me even realizing it.

When I was in grade school I recall a teacher railing against the use of calculators. "Pretty soon," he said "no one will be able to do any kind of math without one!"

I was scared when he made such a grand statement, but also thankful I was around for the calculator since my forte was not in arithmetic. I was thankful for my digital watch and thankful for my time spent in the hallway playing "Oregon Trail" on one of my school's few computers. I had special privileges to use it and did on a regular basis. I quickly adapted to what seemed normal around me with only irregular outbursts from people like my teacher who predicted the downfall of intelligence based on the little machines we used to practice our multiplication and spell out "boobs" (60065) upside down.

But then my iPhone stopped working as I was driving home and suddenly I felt vulnerable. What happened if my child's daycare tried to reach me? How could I access my next appointments? How would I find the address to the next meeting? What the hell was my husband's cell phone number?!?

That's right. I don't even have my own husband's cell phone number memorized. We have been married over five years, we have a daughter, and share many responsibilities...yet, without my cell phone I have no idea how to reach him.

I love gadgets and technology and web tools and all of the nifty things you can do to use and re-use information. But was my teacher right all those years ago? Am I useless at doing things now without my SmartPhone? How quickly we adapt!

Maybe it isn't as bad as it seems...

Redeeming facts:

• I can now donate to worthwhile causes from my phone
• I can now book a doctor's appt for my daughter on my phone
• I can avoid forgetting where I parked in a garage because of my phone
• Unless we all still had rotary dials, I never had a chance of memorizing my hubby's number
• I'm not good with numbers...period.
• I can track what's happening at work while stuck in a line or waiting to meet someone at a restaurant.

Sometimes when it rains, I like to turn off everything and just listen to the quiet. This doesn't happen much anymore because usually I have a two-year-old running around me, but occasionally I still find these odd pockets of time in quiet. And I feel centered. I take account of where I am in life and I take a deep breath and feel really happy.

When the rain stops, the phone begins to buzz, and I come back into my usual noisy life; I realize that I don't give a damn that I need a calculator when I balance my checkbook. I don't mind taking advantage of the handy devices created to help and entertain us all. As long as my math skills are good enough for me to calculate 20% off for sales and I keep a card with my husband's number secured in my wallet (and car console, and jacket pocket, and dropbox) I will be just fine.

I just pray my iPhone doesn't fail on me again...