My husband is not a digital native. He resisted the whole internet phenomenon for years. We both did. We judged it. We said it was for kids. We made fun. We said, “Dot-org, dot-schmorg. Tiktok, schmicktok.” We vowed we would not be a part of it. We would write letters with stamps. We would call people on the phone, and we would meet folks in person, as in face to face, eye to eye.
I don’t know if it happened overnight or if it was a gradual process, but I started to see him using. A little more each week. And then it happened. At any given hour of the day, there he would be, on the couch with his earbuds in. Yes, earbuds. It was just like any other addiction. A toe, a whole foot, and then the entire body.
At first, I admit, I was annoyed. Like, hello, I’m in the room. Like anything, I got used to it. But still I had a bit of a competitive feeling about it. What can be soooo compelling that I don’t have?
But this past year, something has shifted. I looked up from what I was doing, and watched him so mesmerized, and said: “What are you watching?” I had to yell. because between the earbuds and the hyperfocus and the hearing problem, he won’t hear me. (He yelled back, because the people with earbuds don’t realize their volume is not the same as normal people’s volume.) He hit stop and said, “Oh, the history of the lithium battery. You’d like this. Wanna watch?”
My first instinct was, Really? The history of the lithium battery? How did I end up with a person who is thrilled learning about the history of the lithium battery? But because I love the guy and he was so enthusiastic, I heard myself say, “Sure.”
He took his earbuds out, went back to the beginning, and hit play. And for one of the first times, I actually could follow and understand the information. And, shockingly, I found it interesting.
So, lithium. The original commercial mobile phones used nickel cadmium batteries, and it took 10 hours to charge with only 30 minutes of talk time. “Wow!” I said, “Can you imagine?”
Then, when lithium came along, batteries could now be made lightweight, small, and very energy-dense. All of sudden, just when I was kind of getting into it, they started talking about cathodes and electrons, and honestly, I tried to follow.
I said, “Hey, wait, isn’t lithium the drug used for bipolar?” And we looked it up (yes, on the computer) –– and “yes” was the answer. We learned in fact there is a brain chemical connection. Interesting. Absolutely interesting.
And last night, the same thing. He was deep into concentrating on the screen before him. This one was on probability and shuffling playing cards. Turns out there are actual types of shuffles. Who knew? There’s the Riffle Shuffle, which is splitting the deck into two halves then interleaving the cards, which takes about seven repetitions to randomize a 52-card deck effectively. The probability of drawing a specific card (like a king of hearts) from a well-shuffled deck is straightforward: (\frac{1}{52}), or approximately 1.92%. Okay, here’s where I’m glazing over. And Joel is leaning in.
Then last night, while I was massaging my kale, I heard him say, “I’m learning about perfect numbers. I didn’t even know what a perfect number was. I wish I were going to school right now.”
The fact is, we are going to school. And taking every course we never dreamed of. And the best part is, there are no exams and no papers and no pressure. We are getting the best education, and there’s no stress and no tuition. (Well, it’s not called tuition, but I suppose that’s what it is when we’re writing the check to Comcast.)
Anyway, this morning one of the YouTubes was on dragonflies. So (in case you didn’t know), let me share what I now know: They’re known for their huge multifaceted eyes, their iridescent wings, and their predatory behavior. (My sister used to tell me they were darning needles and could sew your fingers together. Bad sister.) But the YouTube video also showed what remarkable fliers they are, how they’re capable of hovering, how they can accelerate on a dime, and they can fly backward. Plus they’re one of nature’s most efficient aerial predators.
Who knew? And more interesting to me is that I wouldn’t have known or cared.
So why did I write this column? Because I have had one of those about-faces, when you are strongly opposed and dug into your set opinions and perspectives, and I have made such a radical switch, I’m surprised I didn’t have a vertigo episode.
Even though I heard not all of the information is accurate, I have fallen in love with YouTube. In fact, the whole package. The phone, Instagram, Facebook, text, email, schmemail, TikTok schmiktok. It’s just so perfect for our lives now that we are in our dotage, our twilight years, our third act. (Oh please, you know I don’t feel that way …)
But the thing is, we don’t really want to go anywhere anymore. And now, with this technology that we were disparaging so much, we don’t have to leave the couch. And mostly we don’t.
So if you see us out and about, it won’t be because we have cabin fever or that we have become bored with our own company and our “studies.” It’ll be because we are missing seeing you. In person. Face to face. Eye to eye.
