Take a minute to think about the technology you use every day, and then try to imagine what life would be like without your smart phone, tablet, computer, digital music player and GPS. Not to mention the computerize components in cars and household appliances. Technology plays such a big part in twenty-first century life that I wanted to take this opportunity to list some of the technologies I am most thankful for. Not the actual devices, but the uses for those devices that have made a difference in my life.
Facetime video conferencing on the iPad and iPhone – Our son Brian is stationed with the Army in Hawaii, and is a long time between visits. With Facetime we can talk to the family in real-time over the Internet, and because it works over WiFi on our portable devices, we can move around as we talk. On a recent call we gave our son a tour of our new house, and our granddaughters are always asking to to see the outside of our house. Our oldest granddaughter, Brianna, is learning to read, and last fall she called to read us a book for the first time. The younger one, Julianna, loves to dance to music grandpa plays for her on his iPad, and as we interact with the girls the miles between us melt away.
Photos posted on Facebook – Our daughter-in-law is very good about posting photos to Facebook. What fun to see the joy in Brianna's face on the first day of kindergarten, and to see Julianna dressed as Tinker Bell for Halloween.
Smart phone text messaging – Sometimes you want to talk to someone and it just isn't convenient to talk on the phone. Type a message and at the touch of a button it is instantly sent to the recipient's cell phone. Photos and videos can be attached to text messages, and on Christmas morning our son sent us videos of the girls opening presents in Hawaii. It was not as good as being there, but the videos made our Christmas just a little bit brighter.
Heated seats in our 2014 Honda Odyssey – In some ways a new car is computer on wheels, and it features a host of high-tech innovations. One of the features included with the car is heated seats. While it was not a feature we would have chosen, on our recent trip north for the holidays we found ourselves heating the seats every time we got in the car – it really made a difference in the cold weather. Sometimes it is the little things that mean the most.
Facetime is only available on Apple devices, but Skype, another video conferencing application, works on all platforms. Facebook is a website, and is also available as an app for iOS and Android devices Text messaging a feature built into all smart phones.
I wish everyone a happy and healthy 2015.
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