I have been meaning to get to my blog much sooner than I have. And today, well today was one of those tech-filled days where I completely stressed out. Ugh. I was finally connected to someone on “Live Chat” who was close in age to me and was able to walk me through the process of detecting and eliminating malware on my new Macbook. So, what is malware? It is much different than a virus or spam. It basically is insidious programming hidden within something you download, upload, click on, share…on and on it goes. And when someone else clicks on it, they get it on their computer. Without you even knowing you have it. The good news? I have NO malware. The bad news? Facebook locked me out and accused me of having malware. I learned so much about Social Media today, that I did not want to know. Sometimes, being fat, dumb, and happy is the way to go. Know what I mean? Maybe we all need to rethink the idea of unplugging daily! I think it is ridiculous to assume we have privacy in any form these days. Even my parents, who are almost in their 90s and do not go on any sort of social media (well, my dad does email) are a presence online. Why? Because they were mentioned by someone; their names came up in some sort of online program (like, what is your mother’s maiden name, for security questions), or they were part of some sort of searching by someone, somewhere, at some time or other. Everyone is on someone’s data base and for a price, they share that information. To assume you can be anonymous is sort of being naive. Unless you have no social security number, no bank account, no recordable income, and live totally “off the grid,” you are on a data base. And today, I realized how very little privacy we truly have anymore. And I am bummed. I have a major headache. Ha-Ha. Me and technology – “not good bedfellows” – as they say!
The process required me to clean out and peruse my computer. Luckily it was fine. Then I moved on to my Facebook account. Wow. I tightened up my security and access, and then I began exploring my other settings. I did not realize how much they record for us. Every keystroke, every like or share, every post is logged. And they sell that information to advertisers. It is the sole reason Facebook and other social media outlets were invented – to sell to consumers by garnering lots of data about them and targeting ads aimed at all that data. We all participate in the ease of social media – like this one – at the peril of being sold something. We are a consumer-driven society. Many cities now produce nothing – no products whatsoever are manufactured in them. They are service-oriented. Banks of computers, tall buildings, and not one manufacturing job to be had anywhere. Nothing being made. Just data being manipulated.
For many years, we were a part of the dairying community in Chino, California. It was an idyllic time to raise kids on farms. We lived within an area designated as the “Dairy Preserve.” Our kids grew up running into the milking barns at 6:00am and helping the milkers, often ending with water fights using the many hoses they have in barns. We had an annual fair and festival and part of it was providing dairy tours. Our kids were in 4H and part of that was learning to be ambassadors for the agricultural community within Chino. This one year we assisted with the dairy tours. I was blown away to learn so many of the children on these tours, along with many of their parents, had no idea where milk or ice cream or butter came from. The kids, many of them, were scared to death of these cows. The loud sound of the milking machines, watching the cows be bathed as they entered the barns, and the clean up process after milking, watching a milk truck be filled with raw milk – these sights were completely out of context from the grocery stores and most people were blown away with the process. Watching calves be born was surreal for them. Riding on hay trailers and watching the “Hay Bucking” contests were a delight, but these people had no real connection to the dairymen or their life styles. Many saw these huge homes and barns, and assumed the dairymen were wealthy and just playing at farming. So very far from the truth of the matter. But my point in sharing all of this is that as we become more and more reliant on social media, computers, and technology, having cities where nothing is made but only data manipulated, separates us from the earth, from nature, from our humanity.
It is hard to find our way sometimes. But I know learning to be silent and still, waiting on God, is much harder in the midst of all the noise created by all this technology. We were all fed lies that technology would simplify our lives and free us up for more time spent in leisure. Well, I can attest to the fact that I have found a pencil and a piece of paper are much simpler than what I had to go through today, to “detect” malware on my computer. In the olden days, I could have opened an old metal filing cabinet, looked into a folder, and discovered any bad information. It was not contained in millions of 1’s and zeroes in a myriad of formats we call “coding.” There was much “simplicity” prior to all this technology. As it happens, I prefer simple. I use my mom’s and my grandmother’s cookbooks. The recipes are simple and the food they produce is delightful. We are growing our own vegetables. Simple, sweet, easy to access. I read recently that all the photos uploaded to social media platforms in one day are more than all the photographs in history, up until that day. Every day!! Think on that a moment. When I was first using a simple computer to type, 640K was a lot of memory. Now we are surpassing terabytes as “external, extra hard drives.” Because our computer’s memory is not enough!! Gigabytes for our phones! It is crazy. In all that data being collected, and all the busy-ness technology is creating, we are losing ourselves. We are losing that simple, sweet process of daily life done close to home, or at home, and in so much quiet. There is, however, always “Good News.”
The Lord waits on us; He is always there. He alone can still a beating heart and comfort a lost soul. He alone knows our needs. He alone can assure us that we are not what others perceive us to be.
“Behold, you will call a nation you do not know and a nation which knows you not will run to you, because of the LORD your God, even the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you.” Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the LORD, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55 7-13)
And even if there is nothing hidden, nothing about anyone’s life that is not known, the Lord know us better than any social media does.
“For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.”Psalm 139:13-14
I was railing against the machine, as they say, today, But then I realized that God truly has all this. I have nothing to hide from Him, and I should have no fear of anything on social media, or other technology platforms, if I am truly His daughter. I still would love to go off-grid, but that’s for another post! Ha-Ha!
kaiserswest 