I am grateful for ... technology, it makes the world a smaller place!

I AM GRATEFUL FOR technology making the world a smaller place!

It is something I think about often, how, as we evolve, we make the world a smaller place. I sit and think how life must have been for my grandparents, or their parents or the generation before, for them travel across the sea was an adventure into the great unknown, possibly fearing they fall off the end of earth. How, for them, it was a journey that would take months if not years. I imagine how their loved ones would feel having absolutely no communication for the longest of times. Did that make their perception of time different to ours, has technology made our world smaller and us more impatient?

I think back to my own childhood, the days before email. My sister had a pen-pal from Poland, I remember it so well! She would write and then a couple of months later get a letter back, and so they used to go on back and forth with good old fashioned pen and paper, occasionally accompanying photo’s and pictures they had drawn. I sit and think how it must have been to organise an overseas visit to loved ones, it must take years of planning, and writing letters back and forth … what if you get there before your letter?

I think of my life today, loved ones living in all 4 corners of the earth. In an instant I can have a quick conversation on whatsapp, I see them on skype, catch up on news through an email, I look at their pictures on Facebook, and follow their blogs, event he occasional phone calls … I am very much apart of their life. I don’t have to wait month for a letter in the post with pictures of my nieces and nephews which are outdated before they arrive … no no no … they go to the beach in the morning, I see their happy photo’s that night.

What about travel, in the early 1900’s people could only travel between countries by ship, and it would take weeks and months … would you ever have enough leave (from work) to visit your loved ones overseas? Now we have massive flying chunks of metal, and the longest it takes you is 2 days and that includes stop overs in a couple of countries. Suddenly the distances close in and the world is more accessible … the world is a smaller place!

All said and done … I can skype, I can whatsapp, I can chat on the phone and write and email, I stare at a photo on facebook, or the latest tweet, … but nothing in this world can replace the comfort of your physical presence.

I am grateful the world is a smaller place!

But when you are apart the distance is still great!