How Do You Stay Connected?
Back in the day (we’re talking 1950′s and 60′s folks) it seemed to be so much easier to stay connected. Families remained closer together – even when the kids moved ‘out of the nest’, they rarely moved more than a couple of blocks away from mom and dad.
I remember visiting both sets of grandparents every weekend. They were just a five minute car ride from our house. As Saturday was haircut day and my paternal grandfather was a barber, it was simple to stay connected. After getting trimmed, my grandmother would inspect my head and tell my grandfather how many spots he missed. As much as I protested, my grandfather would march me back to the chair and continue to trim until there was no more hair left. (It would be years before I found out that it was my own dad, working through my grandmother, who wanted my hair so short.)
Sunday however, was the real treat when we visited my maternal grandparents. When we arrived, all the aunts, uncles and cousins were there, too. There were a LOT of them. Heck, we had seven kids in my family alone! On any given weekend, there would easily be 40-50 people running through my maternal grandparents’ tiny tenement, all trying to stay connected.
That was just for the family. In order to stay connected with friends and neighbors, we had this other thing we did during the week every day after school and, of course all summer long. It was called ‘going outside to play’. How many of you are old enough to remember THAT?!
You Have to Disconnect to Stay Connected
Maggie’s parents are just a five minute drive away. The girls’ dads are within 30 minutes. Outside of that, our closest relatives – including my own mom, brothers and sisters, as well as Maggie’s brother and sisters – are 935 kilometers (581 miles) away.
I’ve been with Maggie and the girls coming up on four years this fall. I’ve yet to see either of my two step-daughters go out to play after school or go anywhere on their own unsupervised. Ironically, with more distance between more people these days, less free time and increased cocooning, there are also more ways to stay connected. Go figure. As my mom likes to say, “It’s 2009!”
Maggie and I see our parents as perhaps the last of the non-computer literate generation. Neither of our parents even owns a computer. Both still have a cheat-sheet taped to the DVD player and TV remote. And – get this – both sets of parents don’t own a cell phone, still preferring to use a land line in order to stay connected!
How to Stay Connected in the 21st Century
Oh, we smile because it’s cute and quaint… our parents are so behind the times. But who are we to laugh? My bare-bones cell phone doesn’t take and/or send pictures. Neither Maggie or I do text-messaging. Shame on me, I haven’t even optimized my websites for the mobile surfers, cutting myself off from at least a half-dozen or so more ways to stay connected.
I’m just now dipping my toe into Facebook and Twitter. God forbid I take too long on the learning curve to stay connected though. These might become as uncool as MySpace by tomorrow or get gobbled up by the Googles, MSNs and Yahoos of the world.
“So what does all this stay connected stuff have to do with Wealth Monday, Russy?”
Well, I thought you’d never ask. 
As I’ve demonstrated throughout this article, the way we stay connected has changed as much in the last 50 years as it did in the previous 500. The scary part is, the world will change that much again in the next – are you ready for this – FIVE YEARS!
Your Choice – Stay Connected Today’s Way or Else!
I certainly don’t claim to be an expert… not by a long shot. As with most of the articles I post, I am doing so in an attempt to keep myself up to speed in order to stay connected. For the next several Wealth Monday sessions, we’ll be looking into some of the top current ways to stay connected in summer 2009.
Just as Maggie and I smile at our parents for using DVD cheat-sheets and out-dated land lines (good grief!), we also realize that we could be left in the virtual dust just as easily and in far less time! As more and more people and businesses continue to mass-migrate online, the ones who know how to stay connected with the latest technology will have the clear advantage.
In a sense, I can understand how my parent’s generation feels. It can be overwhelming and intimidating to face all these rapid fire changes. The thing is, I don’t foresee the world going back to the way things were back in the 50′s and 60′s when you simply went outside to play with your friends or had a family reunion every weekend at grandma and grandpa’s house. There are only two choices – keep up with the times or get left behind… far behind!
However, once you get the hang of the newest ways to stay connected, you’ll find that you’ll be better able to adapt to even newer technology. Before you know it, you’ll be looking forward to going online to play with your friends and neighbors from all around the world. You could even have a huge family reunion every day of the week if you felt like it, all without the hassle of having to clean up after the party.
Hey, you gotta Love That Feeling!
