Old fashioned way

"It's an old fashioned notion."
                                                            -Nick Fury, The Avengers

I'm an old fashioned sort of person.  Very old fashioned.  I'm an old-timer in a twenty-something body.  I don't text.  I don't have Internet at home or on my phone.  I've spent this Christmas vacation with my mother and my sister's family (my niece loves me).  As much as I've enjoyed the occasional game on my sister's iphone or the ease of the camera, I still have a phone that only makes phone calls, and not just because I'm cheap.

A perfect illustration is my flight out to my mother's house.  I was reading an excellent book that I would recommend to anyone interested in improving their church, Gary McIntosh's Taking Your Church to the Next Level.  I've so enjoyed the learning that comes from reading the book.  I've actually had to read the book slowly, to absorb the information.  I've also bled a highlighter dry reading its content.

The point being, I read a couple of chapters on the airplane.  The man in the same row as me pulled out his kindle, after the drinks were served.  He read a page or two when they said "We are now starting our descent.  Please switch off all of those electronic devices.  While I read on, that man sighed at the inconvenience.

This is but one small advantage of old fashioned ways.  Books also have a feel that you don't get on an e-reader.  Moreover, you don't get the smell of a new book, or even of an old musty one.  There is more than the simple absorbing of information.  It is the difference between a pic on instagram and actually being out in the woods.  It's the difference between an "lol" text and hearing the laughter of a loved one.  It's the difference between a "poke" handshake or a hug.

I guess another way to say it is that it is the difference between the electronic world or the real world.  Then again, it's an old fashioned notion.