Remember the blog project I did last year with three other women? Well, Froggie decided to resurrect it with me and we each got to invite another friend to join us. She invited a mutual friend (someone I met through her) and I invited a friend whose blog I really enjoy reading. So now it's Froggie, Mom of Many, Moma Rock and Merrylandgirl. Hope you enjoy the topics that we'll be exploring!
This week, Moma Rock picked the topic: Describe a situation in your life which is totally normal for you, but others may view as strange, or weird, or different.
Before reading ahead, first see what everyone else had to say on this topic:
Froggie
Mom of Many
Moma Rock
I was originally going to talk about how we don't shop or use technology, amongst other things, on Shabbat. Sure that is strange (foreign, really) to anyone who doesn't observe Shabbat. However, we're in a community where it is more common to observe Shabbat, so we still have a lot of support for what we do. I also can't see myself writing a whole blog about eating my Special K (Vanilla Almond) without milk, but with a cup of OJ or tea on the side. Nor could I fit my penchance for reading while working out (even on the treadmill) into more than a paragraph.
Instead, I realized that there's something I don't do that can be seen as a bit bizarre. Especially coming from someone like me. I'm always on the Internet for various reasons. I'm easiest to access through that medium. However, I don't "chat" online. I also don't do text messaging on my cell phone. (Well, it's an extra cost we don't need to spend, but I might not even do it if I had it anyway.) I love to e-mail and post notes on Facebook. That's something within my control, where I can go at my own pace. If I were to accidentally sign on to google chat or some other chat forum, I feel like I would be bombarded with chat requests. I actually panic and sign off right away when I discover that I was logged in to a chat server. I just know a lot of people who do like to chat and I would feel overwhelmed by how fast I had to respond to each person before they thought I was ignoring them. The blinking chat requests make me anxious.
In college, I did chat rooms all the time. It's how I met a really close friend of mine (whom I have yet to meet in person). In my single days after college, I used to be on AIM (Aol instant messenger) all the time. I'd never get any sleep because I'd be up until 2 a.m., based on how many people I was chatting with at the time. Nowadays, I like to go to bed at a reasonable time. If I were to go on chat, I feel like I'd be up all night. I also feel like it's a huge "time suck." Therefore, I avoid doing any form of chatting online. Recently, my BFF and I were e-mailing about this and she was teasing me in a friendly way over why I needed to do text messaging. I told her that I don't text for the same reason I don't do chats. It takes me forever to type on the phone anyway.
In the opposite scheme of things, I tend to find it strange when people aren't using the Internet at all. I'm less likely to be in touch with them, as a result. I'm not doing it to be mean, I'm just lazy about writing real letters and I don't like talking on the phone all that much. I tend to have trouble keeping a conversation going and try to cut it off early. I also tend to stretch this out to people who are online but don't use Facebook. I tend to be in contact with them a lot less than I am with my friends who are on Facebook. Again, just a laziness factor. I guess I don't like rehashing the same thing over and over. Oddly enough, I also get frustrated when people don't carry around a cell phone, especially if they're the ones I need to reach urgently! This stems from when I went to the mall (Woodfield in the Chicago suburbs, which is huge...) with a girl friend 10 years ago and she wandered off, and I had no way to reach her. I was calling another friend in a panic to see if she could think of places where this friend could disappear to in a large mall. I always carry around my cell phone or have some way to be reached (other than on Shabbat, except in emergencies of course). I use my phone mostly for functional reasons and to be accessible if needed. Very important as a parent. I have a basic phone without all the bells and whistles (yet another reason for people to think that I'm strange). In any case, you could have a "Zack Morris" phone for all I care, as long as I'm able to reach you if I absolutely need to. That's all I ask!
Next time you want to find me, e-mail is the best way...or Facebook, for that matter!
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4 comments:
Nice post! I still find it strange that you don't text even though you've explained to me many times why you don't. I will turn you over to the "darkside" one of these days. :)
Texting is fun.. my DH and I text each other all day long. In the short week or so that we have been able to do this, it really has improved our over all communication. Typing on an i-phone anyway is not that hard! :)
at least I know you are a safe driver since you don't "text and drive"
I don't chat on-line or text either, and I thought I was the only one who didn't aside from my parents and people from their generation and even some of them might chat or text. I also do not like milk in my cereal because I do not like soggy cereal, but I do like a glass of it on the side to drink while I am eating my cereal.
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