Technology and poverty

I hope this is the last time I write about computers and internet access. I've done some reflecting about how computers connect to simplicity and poverty.

Technology has the ability to both simplify and complicate our lives. Lately, I've seen how complicated life can be without a computer and internet access and how complicated it can potentially be to attain these things. Aside from how frustrating it's been to actually attain a working computer, it's hard to live in a new city and not have internet access to do simple things like find directions and what times the metro runs.

What if I didn't have parents who could and were willing to buy me a new computer as a graduation gift? Would I be able to apply to graduate schools with a 17 minute time limit at the library? No. What if I'd never had a computer? I'm sure I could have gotten through college using the library computers that don't have a time limit, but it certainly would have been more complicated.

Yesterday I had a one-on-one meeting with one of the support people for CCSC and we talked about how someone not having a computer can contribute to keeping them in the cycle of poverty. In most schools there are computer labs for students to use, but they probably have limited hours that may be at the same time a student wants to socialize with their friends, so if they don't have a computer at home doing their homework can be a challenge. Then, we talked about how many job applications are online. Some people might not be able to get to the library use the internet to apply, and then there is the issue of the time limit (though I'm sure many libraries are more generous with their time limits than the library that is the closest to my house). If someone already had a job, but maybe it was a minimum wage job and their work schedule prevented them from going to the library to use the internet, they would have that significant barrier to finding a better job.

There are so many obstacles to education and employment that I've thought about before (previous education, child care, transportation, etc.), but this is really the first time I've thought about technology, or rather the lack of technology, being a barrier. I guess I've always been privileged enough that I've never had to worry about what it would be like not to have a computer before.

I find it interesting how the simple lack of a computer is tied into three of the four CCSC pillars. The obvious one are simplicity, but there is also social justice and community (I relied on my community members to borrow their computers while I didn't have one). Really, it's tied to spirituality too: I wasn't able to research for the spirituality night I organized for my community and it was kind of a flop.

Good news

I'm very happy to write that I now have a computer that both works and goes on the internet. I'm also happy to say that I've spent the last hour working on graduate school applications (well, probably more like fifty minutes because of a Facebook check and a search for images of the hair cut I want to get).

Now, I need to go home and go to bed, but I hope to be back to the world wide web soon.

A Sad Technology Tale... or maybe it's just frustrating

What I lack in drama with my community, I more than make up for in computer drama.

My computer was officially pronounced dead about a month ago. Fortunately, my parents were waiting for me to need something to buy me a college graduation gift, so they bought me a new computer. However, the computer arrived and would not go on the Internet, thereby rendering it useless since I didn't have any kind of word processing until I could go online and download one. After trying several different wireless networks, I called tech support. An hour conversation later and after changing some settings and doing a system restore on my computer with the guidance of the tech support guy (even though hadn't changed anything since getting the computer), my computer still would not go online.

Now, I am at the Buffalo library and am finally able to go online. I'm relieved to be online and I'm currently downloading a word processor, but I'm not sure why my computer will ONLY go online at the library. I have a feeling my computer drama isn't over, but at this point all I can do is wait until I have a chance to try every wireless network in town.

Back to the Future

Well, the technology fast is over and I feel like celebrating. The only problem is that my computer is broken. I cannot even turn my computer on, so it is now in the shop. Right now I'm using a computer that belongs to one of my community members. I suppose I'm going to be doing technology fast extended edition.

I don't often personify objects, but--like so many computers--mine seems to have a mind of its own that practically demands personification. Right now, I believe my computer was so upset over my neglect that it broke itself.

Computer problems aside, my first month and a half of CCSC has been a wonderful experience. I like my community, I like my house (expect for the bathroom door that doesn't close and a few other old house quirks), I like my job, and I like Buffalo--though I'm reserving my final judgement until March or whenever winter ends here.

It's hard to reflect much on what has happened so far because it's still the beginning and I've been very busy. However, there are a few things I've learned that I'd like to share.

1) A surprise--being open and sharing isn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. When talking to Amy, the CCSC director, she suggested that learning to be open and sharing myself with others was the next step that I was about to take in my personal development with or without CCSC. I think she may be right, but I also think coming here to volunteer and live in community with other volunteers has helped me with this piece of my personal growth and development.

2) It's really nice to jog outside in a park and smile and say hello to people instead of be so absorbed in the music on my ipod that I hardly notice what's going on around me. Also, other people who are walking and jogging without ipods usually smile and say hello back while people with ipods tend to look the other way.

3) On to work matters--getting a green card seems simple enough, but it isn't and it takes a very long time (four months minimum).

4) If you give children paper and markers, they will write on the table.

5) Walking is a perfectly acceptable mode of transportation and a good way to unwind from as stressful day so that I can be pleasant when I come home to my community members.

6) USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) loves numbers. LOVES. There are immigration numbers, social security numbers, arrival numbers, employment code numbers, alien numbers, case numbers, and on and on and on.

7) People of nearly every culture are responsive to a smile and complements about their children.

8) A lot of people wait until the first day of school to register their children for school even when they've had since January (and I'm not talking about refugees).

9) Don't agree to help a co-worker without knowing what exactly you'll be doing. You might end up waiting in long lines on the first day of school to register children and everyone will look at you funny because even though you look like you're twenty-two you seem to have six children (and one of them is 16).

10) Hide the candy.

Preparations: Panicking About the Technology Fast

I’m very worried about this technology fast.

At first, I wasn’t worried because I grew up in a house without a TV and I don’t use my cell phone much (weird, I know). I am pretty attached to my computer and the internet (especially facebook), but I really don’t think I’ll miss it much. My big worry is being without my ipod.

I love music. I’ve always loved music—both listening to and participating in music. I was in choral, band, concert choir, and musicals in high school. To me, one of the most important parts of the Mass is the music, and I often judge a church on how good its music is. Music relaxes me, lifts my mood, makes me want to dance, and distracts me from problems in my life.

It’s the distracting that is the whole reason behind this technology fast: the whole point of the technology fast is to be present in the moment to ourselves (what we’re thinking and feeling), learning to live simply and recognize the difference between needs and wants, to get to know our community instead of staying in such close contact with people who aren’t there, and to the other people in our community.

As my sister, Laura, and my roommate from my senior year at Salem, Jane, can attest, I am addicted to the music of Tegan and Sara. I feely admit I’m addicted and I warned Jane not long after we moved in. Fortunately, Jane likes T+S too—or at least she did (it’s very possible she got sick of them and now hates them, I don’t know). In the past two years or so I don’t think I’ve gone more than two or three days without listening to T+S music.

I’m not sure what it is about their music, but on a good day it makes me feel even happier, and almost without fail helps me feel better on a bad day—even if only a little bit. I have a playlist on my ipod called “feel better” that I listen to when I’m stressed out, angry, or sad. On this playlist are the songs that give me comfort or can always make me feel better, and of the 60 songs on this playlist, 24 are Tegan and Sara songs.

Long before I was a Tegan and Sara fan (and that was a long time ago since I started listening to them in high school), music has been a sort of lifeline for me—as I know it is for many people, particularly teenagers. I honestly don’t know what it will be like to go a month and a half without my ipod.

I’m not trying to be overdramatic—I know I’ll survive a month and a half without music. However, I do anticipate that the first month is likely to be one of the most challenging months this year and the time when I will most want to have Tegan and Sara handy.

In the past few years, I’ve become very good at finding the positive in most situations, and--outside of the obvious possible positive effects of the technology fast (simplifying my life, being present in the moment, getting to know my community and participating in community instead of people I’m not with or locking myself in my room with my music, etc.)--once the first month plus some weeks are over and I can have my ipod I’ll probably appreciate my music even more. After all, we all know distance makes the heart grow fonder.