Growing up in the spotlight

Olivia wanted to share how much she enjoyed her first Halloween.

Now on to my post...

I was talking to Rob on our way to church on Sunday about how technology changes the way we grow up. For example, my mom had a black and white TV growing up until she was a teenager. Her parents didn't have a TV until they were adults. That changes drastically how they learned about the world.

I was raised with full cable. I watched MTV, HBO, and VH1. I learned about events as they happened, and didn't have to wait until the morning to read it in the paper. The world had become significantly smaller for me than it was for my mom, and even more so than it was for my grandparents.

Now the world has become even smaller. Rob and I have chosen not to have cable, or even an antennae to watch TV with because it's too hard to control what you see on TV, but we do have highspeed internet. Not only do we have it, but we use it all the time. We learn about people and ideas from all over the world. We share in the personal lives of people we've never met. We know that 5 years ago a large man that calls himself the "Terrible Swede," who is neither terrible, nor sweetish, joined the LCMS on Reformation Sunday. There's no way my mom or grandmother would ever have dreamed of knowing things like that about people they've never met.

It's kind of weird that our worlds have become so small, and everyone is OK with sharing themselves so personally with strangers. I have come to know people that live in different countries, Britain, and China, more closely than my own next door neighbor.

Not only are we invited to share in the lives of countless strangers, but we are sharing our lives with these strangers as well. Our daughter was more or less born on the internet. There is a picture posted on this blog of her less than 24 hours old.

My question is: how is this new technology going to change the way my daughter grows up? How will she relate to the world differently than I have? How will she feel about growing up in the spotlight? Will there ever come a day when Rob and I stop posting about her? Our lives, your family's and ours, have become so much less private. We are all out here on the internet for everyone to see.

I'm not too worried about it, to be honest. People freaked out about Rock and Roll, the radio, TV and movies, too. So far we're all surviving. We'll survive this as well. But it will be interesting to hear our daughter talk about Theresa, Erica, John H. and the countless other people we treat like friends in this house that we've never even seen in real life.