It’s a Wonderful (Digital) World
I realize that the 1995 movie, The Net, is partly meant to be a cautionary tale. Made near the advent of the internet age, it showcases the dangers of living in a less connected, computer-focused, web-enabled world. The internet wasn’t entirely new, but it was still novel - and its usage was still pretty cumbersome. In a Roger Eibert review, he recites a laundry list of things that happen in the movie that are unbelievable - like the fact that ‘...Internet stuff pops up the moment she hits the return key.” Remember dial up? The movie’s heroine, played by the ever-likable Sandra Bullock, is a computer programmer living an internet-centered and solitary life. As an indirect result, she ends up losing her identity and running for her life from would-be assassins. When I left the movie theater, my takeaway wasn’t that I should be extra careful about who I meet in chat rooms or when opening mysterious attachments. I was excited about how Sandra Bullock’s character was able to work from home, order food, chat with friends - and essentially improve her life by leaning into the new possibilities of a digital world.
During the rise (and even during the fall) of the ‘dotcomm bubble’ I was no less starry-eyed about how much the internet and digital technologies could change our lives. I jumped head-first into a number of internet startups and got to experience some of the highs and lows of the dotcomm gold rush - business plans on cocktail napkins that secured millions of investment dollars, huge spending on branding for technology that didn’t exist, and a swift end to the digital dream when the funding ran out. It didn’t dampen my enthusiasm.
Fast forward a few years and I’m more convinced than ever - digital technology and the data it generates opens the door to a better world. Overstated? Maybe - but I believe it. Data and our digital world saved me from a bad marriage, an unsafe home and an uncertain future.
As a working mom raising two daughters, the digital era comes with pros and cons - I’m relieved not to have grown up in a world of social media, and worry for my girls. On the other hand, being able to work remotely for the past decade has made it possible for me to put a roof over their heads in a remote (see what I did there?) area.
It’s not easy being a lone paycheck earning mom of teens, especially with both retirement and college expenses looming. I know I am not alone. I’ll use this space to research, ramble, vent and share on those topics. I’ll try to share some helpful insights along the way - and I’d love to connect with fellow mom warriors. We’ve got this. Thanks for stopping by.