Summer 2008: Can we really survive without internet or cell service?

Hello World...

Fret not, I am back... for good.

I bet you thought that I forgot all about you! Well, my little blog, you are incorrect!

This summer was unbelievable. I spent the last 9 weeks as a counselor at my camp in Pennsylvania. But this was no ordinary summer spent in the mountains. With my 29 campers, I spent four weeks traveling across our beautiful country.

As I traveled from PA to California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and Colorado, I had a lot of time to think ... just not exactly time to write.

This post is all about connectedness.

Hey Blogosphere:
Ever wonder what its like to not check your email every hour? What about not checking your mail everyday?
Ever wonder what its like to not use a computer for 2 weeks?
How about sleeping in a tent?

I remember listening to a PodCamp Boston lecture last fall, where the speaker suggested that we only check our email twice a day. He said that everyone's addiction to clicking that reload button killed our productivity. At that time, my class and I chatted about how unbelievable this idea was! Was this guy seriously only checking his email 3 times a day and surviving to talk about it!?!

This summer... that lecture became my life.
and I had major withdrawl.

At camp, I was busy. Running around, hanging out with my kids, lucky to check my email for 10 minutes every 2 days. YES, seriously... only 10 minutes every few days. oh and no cell service... did I mention that?

However, I was so wrapped up in my world @ camp that I hardly realized what I was missing back out in the real world. With no time to even sit down and realize how disconnected I was, I didn't realize that I hadn't read the NYT and didn't know about the changed facebook.

Then I left for my trip and everything changed.

ENTER IPHONE.
CUE HEAVENLY MUSIC.

My life changed exactly one week after the launch of the new iphone. If you have seen this blog at all, then you will realize that I am slightly obsessed with my computer, the iphone and musicals. For one year, I have rather impatiently waited for the announcement and launch of the most amazing gadget to ever hit my hands.

and lets just say... its hardly left my hands in these 6 weeks.

Having the phone on my trip was incredible. Not only was I able to reconnect to my friends and family, but as far as I am concerned, having this phone just made my life as a counselor easy.

We needed a restaurant ... iphone to the rescue.
We needed a movie theater... iphone to the rescue.
We needed pinkberry... iphone to the rescue...
(clearly I was traveling with 15 year old girls...)

Looking back, it seems almost ridiculous how much I relied on this device to connect me. But, today... its just normal (for me and my generation).

What I learned is that there is a great divide between my generation, the generations directly below and above me. Let me explain:

The Youngins: My 15 yr olds are beyond. Beyond what you ask? Beyond everything? These are kids who have been video chatting for years. Girls who, at age 15, have blackberrys and can hardly sit through a movie without texting and BBM'ing...it is sad... but true!
MARKETERS, PAY ATTENTION HERE: these kids are impressionable, smart and willing to spend!

Although the girls (and boys) weren't allowed to have cell phones on the trip (and none of them did) they (BRACE YOURSELF) weren't dying without them. This is the amazing part. Sure they missed them... but they adjusted to life without a cell phone. And somehow, they survived...

The older counselors who were also on the trip ... we're talking late 20's... thought that I was crazy because of how connected I was. Although I had my phone, and could text and sometimes browse the internet, still felt relatively unconnected. I wasn't at my maximum connectedness.

Now, trust me when I say, I understand that I am not normal.

The average girl my age isn't so into electronics and certainly isn't as tech savvy as I am. But, chances are... she texts just as much as I do. Most likely, she is attached to her phone in some way.. even my most un-techie friends are obsessed.

So how did we get like this?
I don't have time to delve any deeper...

But this summer I learned that we can (sometimes) survive without being connected 24/7.