Grandma Will Wear Her Big Girl Boots!

I recently discovered a website where you can “rent a friend”. It made me wonder, why would anyone need to rent a friend? Isn’t making friends a natural thing?

Normally, people who have something in common or enjoy each other’s company tend to gravitate toward each other. Even when attending a large social gathering, people tend to find like-minded people in the crowd to interact with. So, why in the world would anyone ever need to ‘rent’ a friend?

Well, the site had a list of occasions when one might want to purchase this type of service. Some of the things on the list included hiring a companion to be your plus one at a wedding, or to go to the theater, sightseeing, dinner, or even traveling abroad.

Essentially, the service connects people with common interests.

Then I wondered, are there really enough people who would use such a service to make it profitable? Apparently, there are and I should not have been be surprised. Our social life increasingly depends on digital technology.

Most of us are lucky if we can count on one hand the friends we can invite to join us on some of our adventures, let alone the few close friends we can count on in good times and bad. It is rare to have friends who have the time, money, or energy to do fun things with us on a regular basis.

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place ~ George Bernard Shaw

Most people today tend to keep to themselves or are so busy that they often don’t have time to have some fun with friends. Some even feel guilty about taking time off from their responsibilities. We seem to be becoming a society of antisocial non-communicators. Technologically we are the most connected generation in human history, yet socially we are the most disconnected and isolated.

Then I remembered that not too long ago, I had no choice but to learn how to send text messages and voice memos. With the advent of social media and smartphones, and the rise of robocalls, I soon realized that people no longer answer the phone. And when you do get them on the phone, they usually have no time to talk.

Heaven forbid there should ever be a major emergency. We better hope that the person we are trying to text is holding their phone! Come to think of it, most people these days have it semi-permanently attached to their body anyway, like an extension of their arm, so maybe there is no need to worry.

Friends and family rarely call each other these days just to say hello and catch up. We text, email, and post on social media. Text messages are increasingly abbreviated and easily misinterpreted. Social media has become a minefield of trolling and misinformation. Not to mention having to remember all your login passwords.

No one seems to take the time to really listen to each other anymore. It seems we all have too much else to do? Or maybe it just takes up too much of our screen time.

The way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives ~ Tony Robbins 

My best friend recently came to visit me for the weekend. We have been friends for 30 years. It had been several months since we last saw each other, but she still chose to spend more time on her phone than talking to me. I must admit that this hurt my feelings a little.

I finally said, “I was really looking forward to spending time with you, but it seems like I am competing with your phone for your attention.”

She looked surprised, as if I were speaking a foreign language. But then she understood my point and thankfully put the phone away.

Oh my, what’s next for humanity? With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), we will soon stop talking to each other altogether. The robots will probably do all the talking for us, for better or worse. My grandkids meanwhile roll their eyes and tell me, “Grandma, nobody uses Facebook anymore!” As if I am still living in the dark ages!

But the truth is that we cannot stop progress and must accept that change is inevitably the only constant in life. As spiritual beings and cosmic co-creators we will always continue to be inventive and create new ways to do things. Humanity will continue to evolve and the universe will continue to expand whether we choose to keep up or not. So, all of us will just have to keep adapting to new ways of communicating to stay connected to the people we love.

I suspect that the grandmothers in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and Mesoamerica also had their struggles with adopting the first writing systems. In many ancient societies, writing was often seen as the preserve of the elite, because only the wealthiest and most powerful people could afford to learn to read and write. This meant that writing was often used to maintain social order and control society. But as more people learned to read and write, everyone became more informed and empowered!

Let’s go invent tomorrow instead of worrying about what happened yesterday ~ Steve Jobs

Writing was also seen by some in ancient civilizations as a threat to traditional culture. Before the first written alphabets, folklore and traditions were passed down orally from generation to generation. Today we know that much ancient wisdom might have been lost forever had it not been for writing.

Learning to write was also seen by some of our ancestors as a difficult and time-consuming skill to master. In ancient times, people were just as busy working, surviving, and supporting their families as we are today. Like us, they did not always have the time or resources to learn to read and write.

Yet our ancestors somehow managed to successfully navigate these challenging changes in human communication. If they had not, none of us would be here today, and I certainly would not be writing this blog post, nor would you be reading it.

So, this grandma will put on her big girl boots every day, boldly face the hieroglyphs of the new millennium, and soldier on like all the grandmothers who came before her.