Screen addicts

This Daily Kos cartoon by Jen Sorensen may hit just a little too close to home for comfort for some of us.





































We are becoming a race of techno-zombies. Technology has made it possible for us to virtually live our lives through that flat screen that we sit in front of, perpetually mesmerized and oblivious to what's happening around us. 

 People who walk down a crowded street with a phone glued to their ear, never seeing their fellow human beings with whom they share the street, are just one of the annoying examples of techno-zombies. Family members, sitting in the same room, each transfixed by the image on their own iPads, are another. They are physically present in the same space but their emotions and consciousness are somewhere in the ethersphere.

 Maybe we all need to shut down those screens for a while and get outside and have a tactile experience with the real world. We might even like it.

 And I don't think there's an app for that.

Comments

  1. K DawsonFebruary 11, 2015 at 9:09 PM

    I just can't figure out how to write a real live letter without LOL or :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersFebruary 11, 2015 at 10:01 PM

      Let's face it - we're doomed! Technology has spoiled us forever.

      Delete
  2. Betty CarlsonFebruary 12, 2015 at 12:46 AM

    I love new technology and the way it allows us to connect, but as a New Year's Resolution I have taken a few steps to disconnecting. There is no "set resolution," just different aspects like turning off most of my smartphone notifications, making Facebook a "quick stop" site rather than a place I hang out on, and consciously deciding to do something specific at certain times rather than the default solution of going to the computer. I have been buying more magazines because I have realized that getting real analysis from the Internet just doesn't work for me -- I end up flitting around too much. And my explorations of my area, even though I share them on my blog, are also a part of "doing something else."

    I think I'll have to do my own blog post on this!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersFebruary 12, 2015 at 9:54 AM

      I freely admit that I love the technology as well. I find that most of my communications with my children these day are by text! That's actually very satisfying.

      I think you are wise to set limits on your tech time, and I'm trying to do something similar - especially with Facebook, which can be VERY addicting.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...
Read more

The Investigator by John Sandford: A review

Image
  I have read a few of John Sandford's books in the Prey series featuring Lucas Davenport. This book is a literal offspring of that series. It's the first in a series featuring Davenport's adopted daughter Letty Davenport. Letty is in her mid-20s and a graduate of Stanford. She works for a U.S. senator named Christopher Colles in a desk job but she's bored with her assignments. Then the senator offers her a chance to go into the field as a liaison between his office and the Department of Homeland Security.  In her first assignment in that position, she is sent to Texas along with DHS investigator John Kaiser to try to find out what is happening in regard to thefts of crude oil. The senator is not so concerned about the lost oil but wants to know where the money from its sale is going. Who is selling the oil and what they are doing with the profits? The suspicion is that a particularly nasty militia group led by a woman is involved. Letty and Kaiser head out to Texas, de...
Read more

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...
Read more