Recently, when I was up and away from a computer, someone asked to see a picture of my son. Strangely, I didn’t have one. My wife and I have not yet physically printed out any pictures of our son. Some of this is a cost consideration as it does take additional dollars (and even some driving) to get a decently printed out photo for the wallet, purse, or physical album. The primary reason, however, is convenience.
As I’ve revealed many times before I am a self-identified technology addict. This doesn’t mean that I have the latest GPS device or cell phone but more that I am interested in technology and what technology can do. I read about it a great deal. Call it my version of a relaxing novel for beach reading. At any rate, my wife and I have a digital camera that we purchased for our honeymoon years ago. It has served us well and significantly changed how we take, share, and use pictures.
We now share pictures through e-mail or social networking websites on the web. We also share short videos and even end up video-chatting with our family who lives far enough away to make visiting with any frequency out of the question. If you already have a computer and internet access the cost of sharing these digital treasures is likely to be $0.
We return now to my embarrassment about not having a photo of my son with me to brag about and share with others. How could this happen? I found a solution, though. I didn’t have to go out and print out a wallet-sized photo to carry around with me and I didn’t have to insist that other people go out and buy computers, internet connections, and/or join social networking websites. My answer was simple: I put a photo on my cell phone. Even the most basic cellphone models now include some sort of camera and that is the type of cellphone I have. While I know lots of people who have phones that act like full-fledged computers I don’t actually have one. I just read about them. My “cheaper-tech” solution, though, works just as simply.