all quiet on the homefront

i have been living with partial cable for the last couple of days and the computer modem has only worked sporadically for months. yes, it did cause me to complain a bit but it also got me thinking- what did i do before i 'plugged in'? i am new to the world of technology- i spent the first 34 years on this planet without cable tv (gasp) and the first 32 years on the planet without email (bigger gasp). that's right- until a few years ago i still used snail mail. i am old enough to remember what it was like before everyone had a computer in their home. while there is something to be said for technology, there is also something to be said for peace and quiet. it forces those little gray cells in our head to work actively instead of passively. it is so easy to get sucked into hours in front of the computer or tv or video game and time is lost. my time without the electronics was spent thinking- thinking that there is something to be said for the way the mind and hand works together when hand writing instead of typing and there is something very satisfying about finishing a chapter from a real, hardcovered book. don't get me wrong- i enjoy the internet and 60 channels of stuff to watch- but i remembered that i can live without them and that sometimes it isn't a bad idea.