The power of worry

 

Let’s face it, the past 15 months have been tough. 

I’ve become more intentional about turning off the news. Not that I want to stick my head in the sand like the proverbial ostrich, but, looking back on the last year, even the last few days, the headlines have been anything but encouraging:

• Ransomware Attack Shuts Down Pipeline 

• Coronavirus Spikes Still Taking Place

• Suicides Are Up

• Policeman Uses Excessive Force At a Traffic Stop. As a Result, Another Young Black Man Dies Unnecessarily. 

It’s easy to worry. That conspiracy theory your friend shared in social media seems plausible. We’re bombarded with urgent warnings on all sides:

• Get gas now or else you’ll be stuck. 

• Don’t get vaccinated. 

• Cyber crooks are going to drain your bank account. 

• You better build that underground bunker and stock it well. 

Worry can make us irrational. It can rob us of our joy. 

Now it’s true that I started a blog and Facebook group to inform and warn of dangers encountered online, but never for a moment would I advocate your living in fear. I do advocate vigilance and caution. 

Yes indeed, the world can be a dangerous place. But peace and joy can be found in the midst of it all. 

Consider the Apostle Paul of the Bible. 

He chose to be joyful despite imprisonment, beatings, shipwrecks and impending threats to his life. He paid the ultimate price, but up to then was choosing Joy. 

Why? 

Choosing Joy regardless of personal circumstances doesn’t seem too intuitive, especially in a society that promotes pleasure over pain, seemingly at all costs. 

Jesus reminds us in Luke 12:22-34 “Don’t be anxious. Consider the ravens. They neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse or barn, yet God feeds them. Consider the lilies, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

Find peace. Choose Joy. It’ll help you find perspective.  

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Checking the Waters

Black River flows through the area where I was born and raised. It was there where I learned valuable life skills of swimming and navigating a boat, canoe or inner tube safely through the waters. My hometown of Kingstree, South Carolina sits at the head of navigation for Black River. Those who have traveled its navigable length will tell you of the river’s serpentine twists and turns and often confusing divergent channels that mimic the main channel. The inky black water often hides tree stumps, fallen logs or old bridge pilings, promising a heart-stopping encounter for an unwitting boater. Swirling eddys, also troublesome and scary. Not to mention snakes and the occasional gator. In times of low water, sandbars make proceeding along the River challenging. If the water level is a little higher, you can navigate with a small boat and pull off at a sandbar for a break. The small meandering channel can be a deadly, flooding torrent as well. 

Sounds a bit like our digital life. 

Entering my golden years, I developed a mission of helping to light the way for digital immigrants (folks over 50) as we navigate strange waters and confusing, divergent channels. I’m committed to curating relevant content from reliable sources, presenting posts that serve as lighted channel markers along the way. 

Oh, yeah, the blog itself will go on, and sometimes serious stuff must be addressed, which I’ll leave for the experts, through posts I’ll pass along. At the same time, I’m going to pull out onto a wide sandbar more often and play in the water a bit. There are concerning things going on all around us, but sometimes you’ve got to have light-hearted moments. 

Stay tuned. It’ll be fun.

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You might be a digital immigrant if…

 

 

Some of us digital immigrants could be accused of having an eight-track mind, he-he!

You might be a digital immigrant if…

Someone starts talking about the TikTok they just posted and you ask them what kind of clock they have.

You interrupt a conversation with someone younger so you can Google what they just said. 

You tell a grandchild to “dial” a phone number. 

You try to join in conversation with millennials about Batman, but you start talking about Robin and receive only blank stares. 

You look for a pencil and paper to write down someone’s phone number and they reply “just text my phone.”

You go out to Starbucks with your millennial coworkers but need someone to translate the menu board for you.

You order a meal online and see that meats are called “proteins.”

You remember word-for-word a Beatles tune but you can’t remember what you bought your wife as an anniversary present a month ago. 

Your bladder tyrannically controls your plans for the day. 

You spend a lot of time frantically searching for your glasses when they’re on top of your head. 

You frantically search for your iPhone when it’s in your hands. (Okay that’s when you raise the white flag of surrender.)

Your idea of a great Friday night involves sitting at home watching the classic movie channel. 

Okay, what are some of yours? PLEASE SHARE! 

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If you’re lonely...

My last blog post just before Christmas was about disconnecting. 

As I reflect on that post, I am also thinking about many people who find themselves isolated due to this pandemic — likely many who are reading this post. 

For those who are shut off from loved ones or just plain alone, going online represents a lifeline. It’s a window to the world outside. Mindful of this, I want this blog to be more than just about sounding warnings about things I feel my readers should be aware of; I also want to be an encourager. 

For me personally, it’s about hope in God through Jesus Christ. If we take Him at His Word, we realize that we are never alone. Reflect on Jesus’ words “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27 ESV)

We seek affirmation and approval in social media, checking Facebook for “likes” or comments from others that make us feel good. We might experience fleeting feelings of satisfaction from others. Taken to an extreme, our habits of frequently checking our social media can rouse the sort of chemicals in our brain that encourage addictive behavior. 

Further exacerbating matters is how we react to negative comments to our posts, whether about politics or something personal. We feel a gnawing in our gut as we try to reason with others who disagree with our opinion or become embarrassed when we say something we realize we shouldn’t have put in a post. 

Yes, we can find encouragement and a form of fellowship online, but we should be careful and know when to disconnect. 

Pursue prayer or just take time to be quiet, and allow your soul to settle down. Even secular  psychologists admit positive outcomes relating to wellbeing and reducing feelings of isolation when people seek a higher power. 

In conclusion, please realize that, in all this, you’re not alone. 

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Image credit: cottonbro from Pexels

A Holiday unplugged

No, I haven’t made the austere move of totally disconnecting, but there are times I reflect on moments that no technology can faithfully duplicate. 

One day I laid down my iPad and reached for an old Foxfire book laying on the coffee table in my sunroom. Exploring the yellowing black-and-white pages took me to simpler times. 

Living on the fringes of Appalachia as I have for a while now, I am captivated by the people whose stories fill the pages of these time-honored books. The history and folklore comes alive. I’m careful not to overly romanticize these folks because they had a tough life, working hard, making do, and often doing without. Some never traveled far from home. 

We’re accustomed to a 24/7 news cycle and the ability to create alternate online realities at our fingertips. We can snap photos and videos on our smartphone and share them with the world instantaneously. 

Foxfire books have enjoyed something of a revival, the bump in popularity due in part to modern day preppers seeking self-sufficiency should the world come crashing down around us. 

My takeaway from reading these, however, is an admiration for the resourcefulness of simple folks minding their business and working the land. But it’s also for the importance they held for their families and, for many of them, their faith in God. 

I have several Foxfire books and am about an hour’s drive away from their headquarters and museum, and have become acquainted with a few folks found within the pages. And they do have a website like everybody else. 

No, I’m not going to head for the woods to fell trees with my axe and build myself a log cabin.  But whenever I read the books I’ll be reminded perhaps more about what’s important. 

I’m convicted that sacrificing screen time for something that’s more real is worth every moment. 

As Christmas nears, I want to sign off and logout more and cherish my family. Those relationships matter. 

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Click on the squares

I’ll admit this topic gives me heartburn. For us digital immigrants, we probably went through a big chunk of our life not worrying about creating a password. The combination for our locker at school was about as bad as it got. When we opened our own bank account, we would set a PIN (personal identification number) for use with our ATM card - just four numbers. 

You don’t need to be told that things have gotten more complicated. In order to write this blog, first I have to login to my computer or enter my PIN on my iPad (okay, I touch the home button or it recognizes my face). Then I login to my blogging application. To share on social media, I login again. Then there’s two-factor authentication and the list goes on. 

I figure I have a few hundred passwords, usernames, pins, etc. To make matters worse, for some things like email I am supposed to periodically change my login credentials or risk being locked out of my account. And as we age, it’s harder to remember this information. 

Studies show that the most popular passwords for logging in somewhere online are:

• password

• 1234567890

• abcdefg

• qwerty

Now that I’ve disclosed those, before you go scrambling to change your passwords, read on.

 

Things to do when creating passwords 

• Think of an obscure phrase or maybe a Bible verse, solvable to you with a clue. 

• Use upper and lowercase letters combined with numbers and special characters. 

• Substitute characters for letters, but don’t make it too obvious 

• Make them long — the longer the better

Protecting passwords 

Like house keys left under rocks, the bad guys usually know where to look. Slips of paper hidden can be found. Office computers turned on and left unattended. These are easy targets. It might be a hassle, but logout of your computer at work or home (especially when visitors, repair people, etc. are present). If you have a list on paper, is it locked away in a safe or written in a cryptic way you understand?

If you ask your device to remember your passwords, that convenience comes at a cost. You should still manually login periodically. If your device breaks and you get a new one, or you replace an old one, chances are you’ll need them to set up your apps. 

Avoid logging in if you’re on public WiFi, especially don’t do online banking there. Never click a link in an email or text that appears to be from a site you use, no matter how legit it looks and no matter how urgent the message. When on a secured Internet connection, login to your account as you normally would and check that you’re okay. 

Password management software

An IT guy I know recommends LastPass. It’s among a list PCMag compiled. These applications act as a virtual safe for your passwords, PIN’s, etc. and a single login gets you in. (And nobody paid me to plug their products, by the way)

This topic is pretty exhaustive and I’ve only scratched the surface, but it’s worth your time and peace of mind to consider how you secure such sensitive information.  

As you research safe solutions, I found a good article on the subject from the security company Avast: https://blog.avast.com/strong-password-ideas

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Staying safe for the holidays

 — Christmas 2020 is already looking different. Indeed the holidays as a whole have a different feel to them. 

We continue to make sacrifices for safety sake. Thanksgiving was marked by fewer bear hugs and kisses as families cautiously reunited. Some were virtual Zoom sessions. Zoom’s holiday gift was to lift time restrictions so that extended virtual visits could be enjoyed (will this also happen at Christmas, I wonder?).

As much as I hate we have to isolate (virtual is never a substitute for real interaction) I know that the current technology can also bring people together over hundreds or thousands of miles without the expense and hassle of travel — something not all of us can afford. 

Let’s pray for safety and a return to the days of holiday hugs and kisses in 2021.

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Nubia Navarro photo from Pexels