Fast forward about ten years, to the first day I heard about myspace. It’s the latest thing, You will love it, Everyone’s doing it, is what I was told. I didn’t get it. Why do we need a space? Are people going to be able to reach me through this new fangled website? I reluctantly signed on and my profile picture was a photo of a chicken because that is how I felt about the whole experience, like a big scared chicken. It didn’t take long however to become completely engrossed. Then there was FaceBook, and then there was Twitter, and Tumbler, and Linkden…The truth is when I said hello to my space (or you fill in the blank) I said good bye to my personal space. The person who was shocked about how revealing caller ID was, is now the one who is blogging almost daily to thousands HUNDREDS a bunch of people I don’t even know.My friend Katie said it well in a post that she wrote about Virtual Life vs Real Life“I have to wonder how these devices interrupt our daily living so that we can keep up with our virtual living. Suddenly we can’t enjoy a delicious meal without telling hundreds of people about it instantly. We can’t take a trip somewhere without uploading a million photos as soon as we arrive home. I’ve even read Facebook statuses of women updating while in labor, usually telling 400 of their closest friends about the measurement of their cervix or how lovely the epidural is.”Of course there is a positive element to this additional life that we live online and we all know it. My friend Katie is a prime example. You’ll have to excuse the exposed film in this photo as if the clothing didn’t date it enough. I lived with Katie (shown left) and her family for a while when my parents moved to Texas in the middle of my 8th grade year. I shared a room with her sister/my best friend Melissa (on the right, and I am in the middle). We shared clothes, we laughed and ate chunky monkey while watching pop up videos on VH1. I was there when Katie revealed her tattoo to her mother. We talked about our new boyfriends, we cried about our latest breakups, there was even some skinny dipping somewhere in there. With the girls, at night, acting silly. NOT the boyfriends. We were wild, but not like that.Then I moved away, and we gradually lost touch. Addresses, last names, and phone numbers changed and I didn’t talk to them for years until myspace came along. Thanks to the connectivity that we have through the internet I know that Melissa has two beautiful girls and Katie has a sweet baby boy. Because of Katie’s blog, Mama the Reader,I know that the people that I affectionately called grandmother and granddaddy are doing well and growing some amazing vegetables, and have goats now! I wouldn’t have known any of this before social networking and I would be left with our memories, and just hope that they were all doing well. So, I will be the first one to vouch that being connected is not a bad thing, but where do we draw the line? That is what I am currently trying to find out.

We have built up a culture of distraction in order to keep us from whatever might happen should we not multitask for once. I say “we” because I am a part of it and it’s all very close to home for me. The instagraming, yahoo, blogging me. For example, I despise texting while driving, but every time I hear the little tone on my iphone alerting me that I have a new text or comment the more I automatically feel drawn to pick it up. Several months ago I read a book called Hamlet’s Blackberry which is what inspired me to do this series. In this book, by William Powers, he looks at the state of a generation entangled in hyperconnectivity and then compares it to that of seven different great philosophers from the past. As each chapter unfolds we find out our situation is not all that unique. For example on page 93 in the chapter about Plato & Socrates we learn “Even writing was once considered a new technology and just like many other new things it wasn’t as obvious of a step forward as we see it today. Socrates writes of the king’s view of this tool by saying that ‘writing is a dangerous invention, because it doesn’t allow ideas to flow freely and change in real time, the way they do in the mind during oral exchange. Whereas conversation is all about back-and-forth, written language is a one way street: Once a thought is written down, it’s frozen and you can’t challenge it or change it’s position. It’s a record of ideas that already exist, rather than a way of creating new ones.’ Thinkers have been analyzing and debating this passage for ages, because Socrates got it so wrong. His reaction to writing is typical of the confusion and anxiety new technologies often cause.” Along with this excerpt from the book I scribbled loads of other quotes on scraps of paper that are now scattered about through drawers and old notebooks. This was my way of trying to cram every thought provoking point from the book into my head, primarily so that I could relay it to you. I highly recommend checking out Hamlet’s Blackberry and I hope you will join me by sharing your own opinions and stories this week as I talk about the high tech, over stimulated, plugged in generation that we are all a part it and whether or not the perceived problem is in fact a problem.

I mention this because today Fox and Friends aired another friendly debate, this time about a recent study that shows that SpongeBob SquarePants and similar fast paced programs may be dumbing down our children. The showdown took place between Phil Vischer, the creator of Veggie Tales, and a parenting expert that felt that SpongeBob is actually a great addition to your child’s media diet. You can watch the clip on Fox’s website to see the full discussion.

What I find fascinating about this debate is that the controversy of SpongeBob has nothing to do with the vulgar humor or rude behavior that is exhibited in the show, but it is all about the pace. It is the constant changing, quick, snappy stimulation that is bringing concern for a generation that is already saturated in hyper activity and attention deficiency. On one side you have experts saying it’s great and children need to be able to learn to keep up in this fast paced society and SpongeBob is helping them do that. In the other camp you have studies and pediatricians from the AAP, warning parents to be aware of the pitfalls that this type of entertainment can bring.

I agree with the stance Jeanne Sager takes. Her article for The Stir is titled “I Don’t Need Science to Tell Me SpongeBob Is Bad” Or, to quote my own eloquent wisdom from a previous blog post, “study schmudy“. We could argue all day about who is right when it comes to what cartoons to watch, but before everyone gets their SquarePanties in a wad, why not consider just going with your gut?

After multiple request, YUMAZING feedback, and even a pinterest I am sharing the secret to this popular party dish.

I remember doing a craft similar to this when I was a kid so I figured it should be a cinch. Unfortunately, it went through several different stages and repairs before the final product. However, the important thing was the kids had a great time and it all worked out in the end.

The big milestone of this year is his FIRST “friends” Birthday party. Up until this point we have celebrated with family only, but this year we also invited all of his little pals from church. I admit I was a little intimidated by the idea of entertaining all of these kiddos. Four year olds don’t shy away from expressing their true uncensored opinions. Fortunately, these were all really sweet kids. For me, the best part of the party was seeing their reactions to all the activities we had planned,

J’s sisters had all read The Help and one of them tossed me a copy and said here you will love it. I read the back, shrugged and said I will give it a try. She almost snatched the book out of my hands like I wasn’t giving their beloved novel a fair chance. I assured her that I would read it and a week later I had the book back in her hands and gave her my review which was “YOU WERE RIGHT! I LOVED IT!”