When I became a stay-at-home-mom following the birth of my first child in 2004, I left my career in hi-tech marketing.
Jumping head first into motherhood in an age before mom-friendly social networking, I completely let go of my former tech life. I was busy bringing three kids into this world (in just over four years) and before I knew it, technology had left me behind.
For a non-engineer, I used to be tech savvy. Engrossed in a world of telecommunications, I knew a lot about mobile, wireless, telephony and cable technologies. I knew what was cutting edge and I understood the advantages of different communication protocols. Today, I suspect I would mistake a communication protocol for a suspect ingredient in a new product in the supermarket.
I used to synchronize my Palm in the 1990s and knew how to efficiently browse on 2G networks at the turn of the century (believe me, not many did!). But when I became a mom, I bought myself a flowery diary because I liked the cover (I never used it!) and when my husband upgraded to the first smartphones I waved my hands — “I don’t need one!”
My husband replaced me as the in-house tech expert and I remained a low-tech mom. It is one of those things that just happened and I am not comfortable with it. I need to find a way to reverse this trend without having to schedule too much time reading up on technology. Beyond being useful, a little tech expertise is fun to have and a good thing to pass on to my kids. After all, it was my mom who taught me how to program in Basic on a Vic-20 in the early 1980s!
Happily, things are starting to change. I now own a smartphone and had to start using a tablet to review my eBook. I am not a big user of either but gently I am pushing myself back into becoming more tech aware. That being said, the other day I had a conference call with my eBook developers and as we viewed an app on screen, I had to admit to using Explorer as my browser. There was a silence. “I know,” I said. “I’m so 1990s!”
Are there moms like me who let motherhood detach them from technology? Would anyone like to recommend a site that could help me get back in touch? I look forward to your comments.