Tuesday, December 14, 2010

TEXTS, TWEETS, AND FRIENDING

For those of you who remember life on this planet before integrated circuits, computer chips, and computers know they all brought lasting changes to our way of life. Don’t get me wrong, I totally believe that we are all benefiting from the invention of computers, but there are those evil forces twisting the electronic revolution for their personal greed.

Wikileaks is currently a very hot topic, and a perfect example of what I mean, but there are many other examples of opportunist intrusions. I personally am totally opposed to the craze of Face book, and tweeting. It is my opinion that some of our youth is naively opening up their privacy to invasion and abuse by lurking unknown forces. I believe that individuals who are sending out hundreds of tweets a day are placing their lives and the safety of their families in jeopardy. Facebook and tweeting distracts from the inherent bonds of family life.

A small article caught my attention in a recent edition of Time Magazine by Neal Gabler, which was buried on the inside column of page 26, but it is applicable to what I am saying here. Gabler is a professor, journalist, author, film critic, and political commentator who is a summa cum laude graduate from the University of Michigan and holds advanced degrees in film and American culture.

Writing about the dangers of social media, he said:

“Print’s uniformity, its immutability, its rigidity, its logic led to a number of social transformations, among which were the rise of rationalism and of the scientific method…(The) more we text and Twitter and ‘friend’, abiding by the haiku-like demands of social networking, the less likely we are to have the habit of mind or the means of expressing ourselves in interesting and complex ways.”

Well said, and point made.

COMMANDER GRANGER

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