Technology

It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.-Albert Einstein

So I am not a facebooker and I understand that social networking has become part of our culture and maybe I should "get with the times." C'Mon! Everybody is doing it!!
Quite frankly I am apprehensive to join for many reasons. I already feel like the Blackberry and the computer take up way to much time in my life. I love the blog as I use this venue as a way to share meaningful and positive messages with whomever wants to read it (take what you want and leave the rest!).
 Wouldn't I already be in touch with the good old friends that I wanted to be in touch with? Don't people come in and out of your life at certain times to teach you certain things about life and yourself and then they go out as mysteriously as they came and you have memories good or bad of your shared experiences. I would much rather have my memories of the good old days then documented evidence. Just for bad hair reasons alone. Do we have to keep in contact with people we were never meant to keep around in the first place? If I were to join and heard from an old friend who posted a message on my wall, is that really making a human connection? Texting, BBM, email, postings. I think it is the downfall of our civilization as we know it. Human beings are not holding themselves accountable for the words they type into cyber space while they sit home alone in front of their computers with false bravery. A friend who is a therapist has told me that almost everyone she has as a client in marriage counseling is trying to come back together from a Facebook affair.
Things seem kind of hard in the marriage, bloom is off the rose? Hey, wait a minute! Remember Johnny from high school. I wonder what he is up to these days? And so on...

Not to mention the kids! The rumors of high school seniors panicking about drinking pictures being viewed by perspective college admissions offices are widespread. I know a young college grad who took a day off to go to a party out of state and lied about it to his bosses. To bad he wasn't smart enough to untag himself from the photos. (Uh, this doesn't look like your grandmothers funeral!!)

The pictures that will follow you for the rest of your days is now in the back of every kids head every time they head out the door. Everyone has built in cameras on their phones and no one is getting away with anything. Good or bad. (I wonder who will be left to run for office in 20 years?) Not that everyone is constantly up to no good, of course they are not. But why does everything have to be documented? Picture sharing is a convenient, fast way to show everyone what you are up to. Some things are just best left off the Internet.

Not to mention the younger kids who lie about their ages to create illegal facebook accounts. There is just something really dangerous about letting kids free in such a morally bankrupt environment. Facebook says you have to be in your 14th year, to create an account. MAYBE by 14 you will hopefully have the moral compass up and running and the self esteem to not engage in cybor fighting, bullying and trash talk. How many times in this last year did we hear on the news about young kids killing themselves over being cyber bullied? Kids would never say the same thing to someones face that they would home alone in front of the computer. Adults too for that matter.
We are losing our storytellers. The people who hold court at a party and tell a great story! All anyone has to do is pull out their electronic of choice and just show you what they want to convey. I don't have to explain it, its right there in living color, see!
I am just as guilty of having my phone in my hands most of the time. I say its so I can be in constant contact with my kids. That backfires to. When I was a kid and I got a flat or missed a bus I had to figure it out. I became resourceful. Now, no reason to figure anything out. Just call for help and someone will figure this out for me! Voila! Problem solved. I remain optimistic for the future of our children. Cautiously optimistic but optimistic none the less. I am going to walk the walk and put my phone in one spot and keep it there. If someone really wants to find me they will.