Taking Technology for Granted...

Contrary to many people my age (but common to people my grandmother’s age), I am a bit turned off by technology and all the “wonderful” new inventions that modernization has brought to humanity. I will never own an IPhone, Itouch, IPad, or an I-put-an-I-in-front-of-anything-and-it-will-sell, nor are they even that appealing to me. Now that we live in the middle-of-nowhere, Honduras, these gadgets are even less tempting. I often think they are just wasting everyone’s time. Instead of doing important things, we often hide behind the newest gadgets like a recluse who doesn’t want any human interaction. However, today I had an experience that reminded me that technology, even with the many downsides (in my opinion), has amazing capability and can be extremely wonderful and helpful. Let me explain…

Micah ate pistachios for the first time today, and his little body didn’t quite agree with them. Not too long after he consumed this tasty snack, he began talking like a man who smoked a pack of cigarettes every day of his 70-year life (OK, that’s a bit of an exaggeration). Soon after, he started developing a rash of sorts on his face and neck. We gave him some children’s benedryl, which made him drowsy and he fell asleep about 2 hours after the initial consumption. He wasn’t acting different than usual, besides being sleepy.

(Here’s where the modern technology part comes in)

Without giving a Honduras cell phone lesson (of which I have had many) via blogspot, I wasn’t able to make a phone call due to a variety of reasons, but remembered that my parents are often on Skype while they are home. So, I got on my computer (praise God the internet actually had a decent connection) and skyped my parents (can you use the word Skype as a verb?). They were able to call a doctor to be able to confirm that indeed this reaction was nothing to be overly concerned about so long as it didn’t get worse.

It’s not as if technology saved someone’s life today, but it did allow a couple parents in Honduras the peace-of-mind that their baby boy was safe and healthy. So here’s to the man or woman who invented Skype…thank you very much!