Sunday, October 04, 2015

Pandora's Box Is Wide Open

This country is in trouble.  I don’t think I need to enumerate all the ways in which we are in trouble. One only needs to turn on the news or read a paper… Does anyone do that anymore?  Or perhaps, that alone is part of the problem.

I woke up this morning and as usual, checked my email, then glanced through the headlines and checked the “newsfeed” on Facebook.  That’s when it hit me….

We are supposed to be the most advanced, wealthiest, and best educated nation on earth. But we aren’t.

We have become a nation of gibberish speaking, fun seeking, ill informed, under educated “social networkers”.  And that seems to be ALL we want to be.

We no longer look to credible news sources, field experts and intellectuals for our news reports and commentary, we look instead to the “newsfeed” on Facebook.  Therein lies the crux of so many of our societal ills.

One article in today’s Cleveland Plain Dealer discusses the current gang related homicide epidemic on Cleveland streets. Local law enforcement suggests that the proliferation of social media has changed the way gangs communicate. Allowing for quick assembly of “posse’s, flash distribution of photos and addresses of court witnesses, and intimidation of those victims and witnesses.

Two days ago, a video emerged on network television of a group of young women at a major league baseball game at which, a game winning play had just taken place. This group of approximately 10 sorority girls were caught on video so caught up in texting and tweeting, that not one of them even noticed the excitement taking place in the stadium they had paid to enter!

How often have you sat in a restaurant and watched people around you who are so busy texting that they are not event speaking to their dining companions? Or perhaps, you were one of those persons?  Have you ever been rear-ended or side swiped by another driver because they were texting, tweeting, reading email rather than concentrating on their driving?

As much as I love my iPhone, I have to say that I have come to the conclusion that much of what is wrong with America today is the proliferation of smart devices and social media.

The combination of the two has served to do the following;
1)    Removed “intimacy” between friends by becoming a constant “companion” or attraction that diverts attention away from real human interaction.
2)    Confused the general population as what “news” really is, to the point that the social commentary and posts of any individual; educated or uneducated, is now called a “newsfeed” on social media sites.   Setting aside the myriad of cat photos and cartoons, is anything posted on social media really a “news” item? or for the most part aren’t  these posts opinion?  Not expert opinion, but knee jerk, uneducated, uninformed opinion. 
3)    Sound bytes, video clips and doctored images, without benefit of full story revelation have become the norm by which public opinion is being formed. 
4)    Rapid dissemination of false doctrine, inaccurate facts, twisted statistics, all launched by individuals with specific agendas has taken place of well founded and researched information. And while well founded and researched information is being formulated  by a few reliable news sources, the immediacy of social networking has already caused a firestorm of misinformation to lead groups of people into believing and repeating nonsense and the truth is buried under a pile of trash.
5)    “Smart Devices” have created an entire new realm of possibilities for identity theft, fraud, intimidation, and blackmail.
6)    Not only have smart devices introduced pornography and graphic video violence to a new generation at a much younger age, but has made it possible and even fashionable for many of these same young people to join the parade through “sexting” and video shorts posted to sites specifically designed to promote such activity.

Technology cannot be and should not be stopped or reversed.  We must however learn how to harness the positive aspects of our discoveries and inventions and control the adverse effects of those same inventions, otherwise each new “improvement” opens the lid wider on Pandora’s Box.

What will you do, personally to make a positive change in how smart devices and social media interact with your life? 



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