Character:Heather Wick

Doctor Heather Wick, Medical Doctor was originally an Amish midwife who died in the early 20th Century when a horse trampled her to death.

Post-Resurrection
Cut off from her Amish relatives (none of them would dare use a telephone to contact others) and forced to reside in a free apartment that was inherently highly technological, Heather spent a few years trying to avoid actually using the technology around her. She never turned on her stove, never used the payphone in her apartment (even to place a free call to emergency services) and spent a lot of time on the roof of her apartment building, cooking at the communal campfire which burned perpetually at the top of the structure.

In 11918 NHE, she met a few newcomers to the building who had died in the Great War (as they called it). It was while talking with them that she realized that, in spite of the claims of a few of her religious neighbors, the New Real was the afterlife and she would not be going anywhere else.

Heather broke down in tears. Once the sadness had faded, she began questioning why technology was an issue that she was trying to avoid. It was at that point that she decided to go to a university.

Over the next 10 years, she learned about both the advantages and the downsides of various technologies. She would begin using telephones but refused to move to a newer apartment unit with a television, instead opting for a unit with an electric stove and two dynamail capsule pipelines instead of one. She would visit theaters to watch animated shorts and musicals along with others, but not spend time isolated from the people around her.

She also heavily studied medicine, hoping to become a nurse and deal with resurrected infants who had died shortly after birth. This led her to the role of a Thanatological Doctor at Saint Nicholas General Hospital, where she was responsible for the orientation of many people, such as Lawrence Burgess, and even the famous Walt Disney.

As time went on, Doctor Wick came to realize that just as technology was a tool that could be used for the wrong reasons, so could religion. She would have friendly debates, but refused to force her opinion on those around her.

Other technologies would show up, both from the Old Real and entire new fields of the New Real. When she adopted two children in 11995 NHE, she insisted that they only buy multiplayer video games and only play them when friends were visiting, and banned the use of the TV the console was plugged into for the purpose of watching TV shows. Watching movies at the theater were a frequent pass-time of her new family, but fiction books were only to be read at night.

When the afternet came into their home, she insisted that it be used for communication and multiplayer gaming only, but allowed her children to be their own judges about it. The mantra was simple; they should not use technology as a shield or mask, only as a hearth or a handshake. The one younger sibling took to this idea well, but the reclusive older sibling never did like the restrictions. She and Heather eventually discussed it and came to an agreement they were both okay with.