Grateful for tech

I
 know that Christmas has been on a lot of people’s minds ever since Halloween, however, as much as I’ve contemplated putting up decorations for the December holiday, I have waited in order to give Thanksgiving its due.
This has been a challenging year in which it may have been a little hard to feel a great deal of gratitude, but this weekend as I pondered the subject of my column I kept coming back to the many things I am grateful for this year.
Surprisingly, there was a common thread running through all the things that I am thankful for, and that is technology. While we are often frustrated by it, it has made this year of quarantine, disappointments and isolation so much easier to bear.
Technology has made it possible to be with family and friends even though we are apart, and my family and friends are top of my gratitude list as always. Being able to Facetime, Zoom or Houseparty with them when we’ve been stuck at home made it oh so much easier to cope with the isolation.
Every Sunday morning, I get to go to church in my hometown thanks to live streaming of the services on Facebook. They started streaming it during the quarantine, but have kept it up after things opened back up and I have loved it. An added bonus is that I often get to see my family during the services which always makes my day. 
Technology has allowed me to learn to play the guitar on my own and anytime I think of a song I’d like to learn to play, all I have to do is open up the app on my phone, search for chords, and off I go.
When I left school on March 16 and didn’t return until August, technology allowed me to finish out the school year, teaching my students. Sure, it wasn’t an ideal situation, and I hope we don’t have to go back to that situation again, but it enabled us to get through it and we — teachers and students alike — are now very aware how much we appreciate being face to face in the classroom. 
The 2020-2021 sports seasons were tenuous, but got under way, albeit with some new and interesting restrictions, but technology helped out there as well. Social distancing requirements made it harder to watch our favorite young athletes play this year, but thanks to the Pixalot cameras and the NFHS Network (and generosity of Weston County School District No. 1 in providing that service free of charge), we haven’t had to miss a minute of competition in the Dogie Dome or on Schoonmaker Field.
Smart TVs and streaming services like Roku have also been wonderful this year. When I get tired of the reality going on around me, I can simply pull up Hulu, or my new favorite Peacock, and escape to a world of entertainment. My recent fave thing to do is binge watch the original Charlie’s Angels series on Cozi TV. 
Then there’s Snapchat. It’s a silly little app, but it really does bring me a lot of joy. I currently have streaks going on with eight different people (that means we snap each other every day) and my longest is 825 days! For more than two years I have snapped that person every day and she has snapped me back. It may sound silly, but we get to see each other each day because of it. 
And then there are the Snapchat filters! If you want to feel good about yourself, there’s a filter for whatever ails you. Too many lines or wrinkles? A filter can take care of those. Want a different hairstyle or eye color? A filter can do that. Want to see what you’d look like as a man/woman? They can do that too. 
And they are fun! In one swipe you can be racing down a snow packed mountain on a waffle, and with the next, you can have a sloth wrapped around your neck giving you a hug. What a great way to start your day!
Without a doubt, 2020 has been a rough one, and I don’t know if 2021 is going to be much better, but technology has certainly helped make a hard year a little easier, and I am grateful for that.