I was thinking today of my days as a kid, at the cottage. The cottage was set on Lake Cebebe on Green Bay. In the early days, there was no electricity, so we lived with a wood stove, a hand pump for water, a fireplace, and oil lamps. We also lived without internet or any screens. Technology was the phone at the General Store.

The daily activities revolved around exploring the land, which meant blueberry picking, climbing rocks, and talking about what we (Uncle Jim and I) would do if we met a bear. The topography around the trailer was hilly with lots of great rocks rising up and the great forest of maples, birch and elm. The birch trees were always an attractive to us and it was not uncommon for us to peel off some bark and try to write a note on it.

No one knows what you don’t know – and of course we had no awareness of what would come from the “being on the grid”. Now that’s a thing – to live off the grid using solar power, propane, wood and growing your own food as much as possible.

Now technology is everywhere. You are on camera more than you realize. Your phone is listening to what you say. Data about what you like – where you eat, what you buy, where you go – is building. And that data gets sold and used to lure you into spending money.

No one tracked us at the cottage, except maybe for those curious raccoons who visited every evening to see what they could find to eat. There little hands could open anything and they had no fear it seemed to me!

I would give anything to be able to go back to the cottage, to walk the land, swim in the water, boat on the lake. But that will never happen.