The Tower of Babel

I was talking to my Mom this afternoon.  We were discussing my adventures in parent/teacher conferences.  I couldn't believe the amount of work my kids bring home.  Most of it is on the computer.  Sophie has three different sites she is supposed to go to:  one for keyboarding, one for math adventures, and one for reading/spelling.  Malynn has a science notebook, where the teacher doesn't give the kids any of the answers, she is supposed to go online and find them-- then the class discusses what they learned.  In first grade, the kids are putting together power point presentations. 
Sophie's teacher told me (3rd grade mind you) that the teachers are gearing up to being a totally computerized classroom in two to three years.  No more work sheets.  Hardly any pencils and paper. 
I get it.  It's a brave new world out there.  I remain skeptical.
There is value in the "old fashioned" way of doing things.  Some things are easier (tons!) on a computer.  No more trying to foot note a term paper with a type writer.  My senior project history professor always told us to stop whining about having to write papers.  "Back in my day....." 
Here is what I think is happening.  I think we are creating a possible Tower of Babel.  Not to get to God, mind you.  No way.  Not in this worldly climate.  I mean that we are going run into the situation where we cannot communicate with each other.  People already are losing social skills.  I think I'm one of the rare individuals with a stupid phone who has never even tried to text someone.    Those abbreviated words kill me.  LOL, ROFL are not in the English language!   My stupid phone lives in my purse and more likely than not, is uncharged.  We still have a home phone.   If I'm not home, you're not getting a hold of me.  I'm okay with that.  The crazy thing is that I'll check my facebook status every 1/2 hour when I am home.  I'm not so much okay with that, because a few posts about what my kids say and someone else liking it, isn't a valid relationship with anyone. 
Another social skill that this last election has really brought to the forefront, is that in our anonymity in the ether sphere, we have forgotten how to disagree without being disagreeable.  We have to live in communities and interact with all kinds of people.  It goes beyond the neighborhood curmudgeon.  He/she is endearing.  It's the anger and rage that are seeping into everything around us. 
I'm thinking that if we continue this trend where we unlearn centuries of the valuable skill of writing and throw off our ability to converse face to face with each other, we will become like the people who built their tower to heaven.  I've often wondered if it wasn't so much an actually thunder and lightening curse coming down from God, as what is happening today.  Gradual.  Sneaky.  Tricksy.  Because computers are awesome.  I love them.  I can't imagine how we even lived before the Internet.  I can't remember.  There in lays the problem.  We can't remember and what we don't remember, we lose.
There is a great book out there, "Moonwalking with Einstein".  The whole book is about memory and is incredibly interesting.  Part of it talks about the American Indians.  Their land wasn't just sacred.  It was their collective memory.  You know how you go to a place that you've been before, especially one where you had a good time or evokes good feelings?  You're there and suddenly you remember.  You remember smells, sounds, people.  The stories and histories of the American Indians were wrapped up in certain holy locations.  I look at this tree and it tells me this story.  I look at this petroglyph and it tells me this family history.  So when the Indians were rounded up and displaced they forgot their stories and their culture.  When the landscape of their history was changed, it changed everything. 
Remember.  Remember what happens to people who throw off their heritage for the good moment.  Remember what happens to whole cultures when they lose their ability to communicate with each other, both in written and spoken word.  I hope these are just Sunday musings on my part.  I hope I can remember.