Please stop telling me that technology & internet is bad.

Something I tend to hear about the tech age and Internet is how bad it is, and how it makes people  lazy, depressed, and how its unnatural it is and how people have to get up

get out and get moving. Yes I totally agree that it can make people lazy and that IF you are able to get up, out and moving as well as interact with people often in the physical world then you should.

But people don’t realize that technology and the Internet age includes disabled people with limited mobility.  When you have limited or no mobility you can’t just spend an afternoon in the sun getting your adrenaline pumping, you can’t “put some elbow grease” into things because your body is so sick that it makes the most basic of activities an intense hellish workout.   

Things like delivery services, the Internet, remote access technology, automatic technology and so on makes a big difference when you are

Disabled and/or elderly.   Let me give you some examples!

A disabled teen/young adult who is partially or completely house or bed bound has very limited human interaction, there aren’t many ways to meet new people unless their healthy or abled housemates bring company around, and as far as chronic pain amongst young people goes, a lot of people get left by old friends who don’t believe/understand their illness and the healthy friends who do stay tend to be busy with their lives so sometimes it can be a while between physical hang outs. 

Things like Skype, support groups, and online dating allow them to be able to socialize or date from their homes.  They are now able to meet new people in general, connect with the friends they had prior or meet people who have similar struggles and can advise/relate with them in support groups and they can Skype/video chat them and there they can at the least have the next best thing to physically hanging out with another person. They can even have ‘Skype dates’ with someone they met on a dating site.  

Another thing technology and Internet allows some but not all disabled people is giving them the ability to go to college online or make a little and in some cases a lot of money from the Internet either as a freelancer, entrepreneur or an employee. If none of those things are possible it can give them the opportunity to learn about a new hobby to fill their lives with.

Things like a dishwasher, a crock pot or electric pressure cooker, and home delivery services can be the difference between the ability to prepare food by yourself or have access to things you need or want.   Ex: Medication, Assistive Technology, Takeout & Groceries, Clothes, Pizza and Boba (YASS.) Technology would even allow someone whose unable to go outdoors to have a home theatre. To go back to AT, technology is what builds our wheelchairs, our canes, crutches and
all the other less popular types of AT out there which make gigantic differences in the lives of disabled people.

Even street view lets people who have no choice but to spend the majority or all their time indoors view the world or their neighbourhood from their homes.

Technology makes a big difference especially in the lives of those with limited mobility it means more independence, more inclusion and a higher quality of life.

If you've ever seen the movie "Everything Everything" you'll see how in the beginning she says
"well at least I have the internet"  & a book quote where she says "The world  barely knows I exist, I mean, I exist online."  even though the ending of this movie turned out different. There is a lot of relatable things she said in the movie s to anyone whose ever been partially or completely bound indoors.

P.S.: I LOVE THAT MOVIE.

Quote from: Inside the Mind of a Chronically Ill Person Debating If They Should Post on Facebook