Things have changed. We all know it. Our world surely is not like it used to be! And that’s both good and bad. In this case, I’m speaking of technological advances that have changed our lives forever.

Email, for instance, has made staying connected with loved ones so easy. About 13 years ago I started emailing regularly with one cousin I hadn’t seen for years, who had migrated to New York. Soon, she added another cousin. The other cousin added her sisters. Then another brother chimed in. Pretty quickly we had rousing, daily conversations going on between about a dozen relatives, some of whom I had never met or hadn’t seen since we were kids.

That daily conversation has continued since, on what we call “the cousinette.” We help each other through good times and bad, discuss all the important issues of the day, and work through amazingly tough family issues, like alcoholism and death. Those family members are as near and dear to me as my own brothers. For that alone, I cannot thank email enough.

On the other hand, like many folks, I curse email daily. Every time I sit down at my desk and computer, there it is. Someone, everyone, seems to think they can have instant access to me. And, because I was schooled to always answer questions and to not keep people waiting, I can’t quite ignore those requests! Not that I want to, because each of those emails represents a real person who seems to want to interact with me, and I value human interaction and honor my fellow people. So I wrestle with myself when I am really busy with my own priorities for work or home: Do I stop everything and take care of the other people represented in those emails, or put myself first and ignore them for a while?

I’m not a Facebook user; I check my page maybe once a month. Not because I can’t see the value of it, since it is used much like my “cousinette” to help people stay in touch with loved ones all over the world. What I would be afraid of is that I could get glued to it and find it just as demanding as the “cousinette.” I really don’t want to spend my life attached to others through a keyboard and screen. And no, I don’t use my cell phone a lot either.

These are conscious choices on my part, not just resistance to anything “techie.” I am choosing to live, or try to live, more authentically and in the moment, paying attention to the people and surroundings of the moment. I am hoping to eliminate distractions and stay focused on who and what are in front of me in the moment.

“Distraction” is the word that I think of most often when I think about the technology around us. Again, it is both good and bad. Some distraction is good — when I need to get something off my mind at night, for instance, so I can sleep. But with so many wonderful people and places to take in and enjoy every day, every place we go, being distracted by something on a screen is not so good.

For me, being present in the moment and giving everyone and everything I do my full attention — something I value — means I choose to stay away from too much of the “white noise” of technology.

I believe that is a Choice for Sustainability!

— Naomi Maasberg is director of Stillwaters Environmental Center. Contact her at naomi@stillwatersenvironmentalcenter.org.