From the desk of: Cathy Coloff
Subject: Back to Nature
When I was a kid growing up in North Carolina, we often spent our days outside in the woods behind our house just goofing off, swinging from vines into the small creeks, or hanging out in my friend’s brother’s tree stand of questionable safety. I encountered a variety of the local natural habitat, including poison ivy and the occasional copperhead snake! Nowadays, with the advent of technology, I worry that many kids will not get out and enjoy the great outdoors.
On the other hand, my husband Doug has practically become addicted to the variety of eagle cameras available on the Internet (OK, so I’m exaggerating a little bit, but when you hear strange bird sounds in your house throughout the night, one starts to wonder). We recently visited the Philadelphia Zoo; and I was impressed by all the technology in use throughout the zoo to monitor and care for the animals, educate the visitors and enhance the overall experience. I was pleasantly surprised that none of the kids on the trip asked for iPads or other devices that I saw during the overnight trip—they spent the time running around with each other and looking at the animals. Technology has the potential to enhance and improve our natural world as long as it’s used wisely. And from the interest I saw in some of the kids on the trip, I’m optimistic that our young people will be leading the way in this arena.
As we continue our 10 Months of Giving Back this month, we thought it fitting that we contribute positivity to our immediate environment; so, we’ll be planting some trees in the vicinity of our office. While I’d like to tell everyone to put away their smartphones while we’re planting, rest assured we’ll still be available to help with your IT support needs thanks to mobile technology.
In the meantime, I hope you’ll take a few moments to get out and enjoy nature with or without your technology. Happy Earth Day!
First published in our April 2018 IT Radix Resource newsletter
