Friday, November 03, 2006

THE FAMILY AND THE INTERNET


We’re in a revolution bigger than anyone realizes. Just notice how much technology is now part of daily life compared to a couple of years ago. According to experts like Ray Kurzweil (Author of The Age of Intelligent Machines), the rate of change in technology will keep speeding up.

Kurzweil predicts technology will completely change our work lives, our travel, our ways of thinking, our beliefs and our lifestyles. New cures will be found for deadly diseases and improvements are coming for our vision, hearing and other skills.

So where will that leave us and our families?

Technology now controls our travel, our money, our health care, our ideas, our work, our fun and our communication. Soon it will replace more of our thinking. What hope does the family have trying to understand or control technology - practically none. So there is little point in fighting technology - a waste of energy.

So, what’s left for families to do? Answer: a lot! We must select the right internet server, the right banking system, the right garage, the right health care and insurance plans. We have to do all this with a keen eye on security.

Our first line of defense is the internet itself. It knows all. We just need to ask the right questions. The limit on this is that we all don’t do it well, or we’re tired or we run out of time. We can use the on-line tech assistance and sometimes it helps. But, it takes time.

So, as technology leaves us farther behind, what else does the family do? Guess what? We have technology experts in our families. They are called our kids. They have cell phones and were born wired. Trying to monitor their cell phone use is impossible. But, recruiting them as the family techs changes all that.

We ask the kids to keep us to date. We ask their opinions on our big technology choices. We want them to make sure our use of information is secure.

And, there is another thing we can do. We share with other families our questions and our experiences. If we have an e-group, we can get instant feedback on today’s tech challenge.

What we do have to accept is, that now, everybody must spend more time on the computer.

This blog encourages families to develop e-groups among friends. It also suggests www.newhopecovenants.org to help make good decisions.

Join in the discussions, develop your own e-group, and have your chance to rise up to THE FAMILY CHALLENGE.

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