DATE Thanksgiving technology Klarissa

In the spirit of the past weekend, I'll start by saying I'm thankful to be a part of this great project!

I didn't get to attend the last workshop, but it sounds like it went wonderfully and I'm excited to be a part of the next one. Over the weekend, as my husband and I were spending time with family, I had an aha! moment that I'd like to share, which was mostly seeing familiar situations in a different light. 

After hellos, hugs and how are you?s with the family when we arrived at the Thanksgiving dinner, it was time, as usual for one of my husband's aunts or uncles to approach him with an IT issue. This time, his aunt was trying to save photos on her new tablet so she could share them with her grandson who is stationed in another country. I observed, and interjected a bit, as they discussed what she wanted and decided she didn't need to mess with an SD card, she could use Facebook and he showed her how to download the app, take selfies and send photos from her camera app to Facebook. Like I said, this isn't an unusual situation, as a computer programmer, the family usually will have something they've "been waiting to ask him about." But after this class, I saw this situation slightly differently, maybe more analytically. I think this interaction was a good example of some of the discussions we've had of about technology and different ways it could be used. He could have just showed her how to use the SD card, but it turns out that would not really what she wanted to do. Maybe she just thought that she needed to use it because it was there, or because that's how things used to work, but since she was asking about storing things in the cloud and sharing photos with her grandson- and she had already started to learn Facebook to communicate with him, we showed her how to post photos to Facebook instead. She was happy, and trying to get the right light for a selfie for a little bit after, too. 

I thought this was a touching moment, as well, seeing how technology could bring us together, even social media which can create more distance in some ways. It was not only bringing his aunt and her grandson closer but it brought my husband and his aunt closer together, too. It was a more meaningful interaction than the usual small talk. 

I'm excited to be at the next workshop to share in learning and conversation!