Media and my Friendships

Hi!  This week I am linking up with Women Living Well for Media Mondays.  This week the topic is Media and Friendships.  This post will be short!  My husband is not a computer person.  Or, let me rephrase that.  He is not an Internet person.  He hardly ever goes on the Internet, and has no email account.  He feels strongly that Facebook and MySpace are place where you meet people that ruin your marriage.  Sort of like a dating club I suppose.  We do not have Facebook or MySpace accounts.  One day that may change, if there were a good reason to have one, such as business, etc.  But for now this is how we do it.

My sister, who is on Facebook, tells me I should have an account.  That everyone we used to know has an account and would like to hear from me.  That they ask about me.  I guess that is another reason I don't have an account.  I'm a very busy person.  I really don't want to know what everyone had for dinner or what movie they saw.  Especially not people I knew 20 to 30 years ago.  If someone wants to meet for coffee, call me, or send me a note, I'm all for it.  But Facebook seems to me to be an ongoing daily time commitment.  One I don't want to get obligated to.  So currently I'm not really media friendly.

Another reason I don't have Facebook is because my husband and I are landlords.  We have had rental property for 20 years.  Another landlord I know, who doesn't even live in the city he owns property, told me about a women posting on his page, asking did he own the house on XXXXX street, that the toilet was broken and hadn't worked in a week.  Seems the property management company was not responding as she felt they should.  I know that would happen to me.  I would probably get death threats posted on line when I evicted someone.  So I think it is better I keep a low media profile. 

One thing I do need to do is match all my Internet personalities.  The email address I use the most, doesn't match my twitter account or my blog address.  So I need to work on all that soon.  And maybe I need to get over this fear I have of people knowing who I am.  I am also mortified by some of the things my adult children post on their pages.  So I keep my life compartmentalized.

I do have a twitter account, but that I use mostly for "group" activities like B90 Days and Hello Mornings.  I have this blog, but most people who know me in real life, don't know I have a blog.

There are people that I do associate with on the Internet, other Bloggers and Twitter friends.  I have some people that I am close to and admire.  They just live in a different place than I do, and some of them look like cartoon characters! 

I know this is not what I was suppose to write, but this is me.  I'll see you next week!  Thanks for stopping by.  Honey

Media and My Marriage

Today electronics and media in various forms are a part of all areas of our life.  There are very few places anymore, in the US, that you can get away from cell phones.  These electronic devices are attached to us, and we are expected to be accessable 24 hours a day. 

How does all this affect our marriage?  My husband and I are not the most technical people you've met.  We are probably the last people to update or get new devices.  We have a desk computer that we share which is on line for Internet.  My husband has a laptop that is Internet accessible, but he does not connect to the Internet.  We do not email each other, because Pappy doesn't have email.

I have a Blackberry, which Pappy bought for me so that when we travel so I could access Internet and email.  My husband has a basic cell phone.  I text because I have to.  Our tenants will do practically anything to avoid talking to me when they owe rent.  But Pappy doesn't like to text.  He worked third shift for years, and we would talk to each other every night at 10:00 when I would call him; and then he would call me in the morning if he wasn't going to be in before I left.  Now that he is retired, I do text him through out the day, mostly about our properties or the kids, and he will text a short answer if needed.  Usually he just reads what I have to say. 

So Media has not affected my marriage a great deal, accept that we are available to each other at all times.  Every once in a while my husband will text me a sweet message, and I know it is a big deal, and he made a special effort to let me know how much he thinks of me.  And I want to melt, and be certain I am being the wife he deserves.

Currently we are struggling a little with media and our marriage.  Since Pappy doesn't use the Internet, he doesn't understand a lot about it.  Lately I have been spending a lot of time online, trying to develop a blog, mentoring a B90 Days group, etc.  Yesterday he told me he wished the computer would blow up.  So I need to get a better schedule going so I can get what I need to do, done.  And still be sure that I am able to take care of my family, my home, and make certain my husband realizes how important he is to me.