Before I write another word do I not hear the multitude clamoring “but it allows us to always be in touch.” The further declare “I can always know where my children are.” That last point is debatable but I will grant it for the moment.
I said this column would not be an endorsement of the cell phone. By cell phone I mean the models from simple call-and-answer devices all the way to those allowing text messaging, access to the Internet, and every other source of information imaginable.
Don’t get me wrong. I am thankful for the ability to “connect up” with someone whenever and wherever. My feelings don’t make the practice of constantly calling and talking the proper social thing to do. I faintly remember the ad on TV a few years ago proclaiming “We stay in touch, you stay in touch.” Well, we can certainly stay in touch these days.
Staying in touch is not the issue. Has this ability for which I have already declared my thankfulness been good for the social fabric of our society?
This issue has mulled over in my mind on many occasions over the past few years. Especially was this true when a coach would call four or five times a day about the most trivial issues. This last sentence is a side issue but I have wanted to mention it for a long, long time. When you can’t even go out for a meal without having to answer questions a moron should be able to handle then it is a extreme abuse of what should be useful and good.
A statement I heard on TV a few nights ago when the use of devices of modern technology was discussed brings up this subject today. The observation was made that often families were in the same room physically and yet they were miles apart emotionally.
With parents providing children at a very young age the luxury of their own cell phone it is doubtful that any would take exception to the “being miles apart emotionally” observation.
Our young are masters at using cell phones. From calling each other to sending text messages they can converse extensively while shutting out the world around them.
And that is the issue. Has these devices damaged or destroyed our ability to relate to each other in proper social gatherings? A recent article crossed my desk which affirmed modern technology was magical and fantastic and stated “it takes us to places we can never go…allows us to reconnect with high school pals or say ‘I love you’ via text, email, instant message or all three…” And, do I not remember that just a few years ago it was an extreme accomplishment to get a note across a class room to declare your love for a pretty girl?
This article then presented a daunting affirmation by declaring “However, technology also tends to take over our lives.”
If you haven’t seen your child withdraw into another world in your very presence, possibly at the kitchen table or in the den, and without acknowledging your very presence then you in are in the minority.
The article to which I have just referred entitled “Is your technology stealing your life?” suggests precious and private moments of interaction between parents and children are being lost. Those pursuits that make life richer and fuller are taken away while we or our children devote moments to others far removed. Now, can you see what was meant by the observation, “being in the same room but miles apart emotionally?”
Just last week, I was at a middle school basketball game when the players of the other team came down the floor right in front of the bleachers to warm up at their end of the court. One player wasn’t watching where she was going. She was text messaging someone on her phone.
I wondered what her status was on her team and how much she was thinking about her contribution that day.
The point is let us not allow technology to take over or steal our lives.
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