Often I mention technology. The use and abuse of it. Our enslavement to it. The way it dominates our lives.I do think technology has a place, obviously. But, we must be mindful of the role it plays in our lives and what effects it has on us.Yes, I use the blog as a social medium. But, I do not live my life around it.Social media is used here at the blog, to challenge the perceptions presented to us by those we allow to lead us. I also notice how social media is used to manipulate so many unwitting people- particularly the 25 and under crowd, so that the powers that shouldn't be can justify their continuing war mongering, plundering and worse. This crowd generally lacks critical thinking skills that may help them discern fact from lies. Thinking here of "I am Ukrainian" - Phony Kony- and other mass media psyopsTo keep tech balance in my life, I have no 'smart' aka stupid phone. I do not want to be a participant in the 'smart grid. ' Which is really the control your life and spy on you grid. I do not carry around a electronic monitoring device aka smart phone. Which keeps tabs on my every move. And sends my location back to the ISP who can then provide all my information to the government or sell it for a profit. I prefer to live mindfully. Because I am human. Sentient. Living & breathing. Organic. A part of the planet. With Balance. Hoping you do to?Smartphones= Dumb people
"Walking along busy Montreal streets these days, I find that, with increasing frequency, I am navigating around pedestrians so engrossed in texting or viewing something on their smartphones that they appear oblivious to their surroundings.I say appear because I’m not convinced that they’re entirely unaware of the universe beyond their screen. They have at least a dim awareness of it. They just figure that it’s my responsibility to steer clear of them.Hardly the optimal way to share public space.An Indiana woman had to be fished out of the frigid river into which she fell while walking along a pier and sending a text one night last March. So engrossed was one Los Angeles area man in texting that he all but walked into a huge black bear wandering the neighbourhood. In an event captured by security cameras, a teenage girl in northern China fell into a sinkhole six metres deep while talking on a cellphone"
Survival of the species? Or decline of a species?
"More than 60 per cent of 1,000 people who responded to a survey by the insurance company in April said they routinely text, answer emails, talk on their phones or listen to music while walking — even though seven of 10 acknowledged the danger of stepping inadvertently into traffic.
According to a recent article in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention, the number of pedestrians treated in emergency rooms in the United States for injuries related to using a cellphone while walking nearly tripled between 2005 and 2010 to 1,500 — even as the total number of injuries to pedestrians dropped considerably"
Looks like the answer is decline
"We all know people who believe that it’s socially acceptable to conduct a face-to-face conversation with another person even as your eyes stray to your omnipresent smartphone each time it vibrates or pings — and then to text or email in response, all the while pursuing a semblance of conversation with the person across from you.
I find the behaviour neither social nor acceptable"
Neither do I.Are Our Children the Next Generation of Zombies?
Experts warn that the growth in the digital era is having a serious effect on children’s social and physical development. One expert notes that “brilliant computer skills” [are] shown by many pupils was “outweighed by their deteriorating skills in pen and paper exams because they rely on instant support of the computer and are often unable to apply what they should have learned from their textbooks”. (Source)
Brilliant computer skills do not translate to learning or application of learning....Indeed!Restaurants Now Googling Customers, Keeping Detailed Personal Information on You