{"id":11974,"date":"2014-02-05T10:32:37","date_gmt":"2014-02-05T16:32:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flovalleynews.com\/?p=11974"},"modified":"2014-02-05T10:32:37","modified_gmt":"2014-02-05T16:32:37","slug":"boomers-journal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flovalleynews.com\/?p=11974","title":{"rendered":"The Need to Connect: A Boon or a Curse?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"Tom<\/a>A Boomer’s Journal<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Tom Anselm<\/strong><\/p>\n

You’ve seen it before, I am sure.\u00a0 Several people sitting together. Friends, family.\u00a0 Not talking. Looking down into their palms, their laps.\u00a0 Not communicating.\u00a0 Oh, wait, yes they are. Just not with each other.\u00a0 Each\u00a0 of them is\u00a0 attentive only to some glowing electronic device.<\/span><\/p>\n

Is this\u00a0 high-tech world of greater connectedness one that really may be leading to an actual disconnect? What is this phenomenon, so prevalent in the world that its hold on some has even spawned a psychiatric diagnosis?\u00a0 In Great Britain, this anomaly is known as MAID, Mobile and Internet Dependency.<\/p>\n

We have texting, facebook, Twitter, Instagram, youtube,\u00a0\u00a0Linkedin, Vine. There’s Facetime and Skype.\u00a0 My tech-savvy\u00a0youngest just clued me in to Google Plus.\u00a0\u00a0They all are designed to assist us in communicating. But they take time to use, posting and reading and reposting and sharing and responding.\u00a0 And with the giant upsurge in smartphone and tablet technology, my guess is that it will only become more prevalent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I don’t got me no smartphone. Just a good ‘ole-fashioned” dumbphone. The flip variety. No apps, a little texting, calls taken and made.\u00a0 I don’t need to check my email and the extra bucks for a data plan every month is rather off-putting, ya, know?<\/p>\n

Still, I\u00a0 have been known to turn around and come home when realizing I left the thing on the kitchen counter.\u00a0 A mild dependency, perhaps, but a dependency nonetheless.<\/p>\n

So I ask, are we being manipulated by a power we don’t understand?\u00a0 How much time do we spend clicking on, scrolling to, or downloading stuff that has absolutely no value to our life, sucking away valuable minutes of our ultimately time-limited life.\u00a0 Time could be better spent, oh, I don’t know, reading maybe or learning Italian, to check out “The Five Best Way’s to Cook Broccoli” or “What Team the Stars of Duck Dynasty Are Picking for Super Bowl?”<\/p>\n

I admit to doing this sort of search more times than I am proud of, especially when it comes to health stuff and sports.\u00a0 But in the end, did I really need to read “The Ten New Ways to Lower Your Risk of Dying When Water Skiing” when am certain I will never attempt that task?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

There is also a certain fear factor built into this connected-ness frenzy.\u00a0 I\u00a0 have called a family member and had to leave a voicemail.\u00a0 Now, a lot of our younger set don’t even listen to the message. They just call back with “Hi, what’s up?” Which is good.\u00a0 But when they don’t respond within a reasonable time, I begin to wonder if they are alright, like, have they been abducted by aliens, fallen prey to zombies, or had an otherwise more probable accident.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, it is just one more way to borrow trouble, a trouble that may never come.<\/p>\n

I am not against technological advances. I have long been a fan of electricity, indoor plumbing and garage door openers.\u00a0 But when the NSA knows more about us than our mom did, it makes me nervous.\u00a0 Not that I am doing anything wrong, it’s just the point of being subject to intrusion.\u00a0 And I hate, really dislike, seriously abhor the pressure that is being put on our youth to have the latest in devices, from I-Pod to I-Pad to tablet to whatever palm-shaped thingie is coming next.<\/p>\n

I hope this doesn’t come across as simply the ranting and raving of an old fuddy-duddy.\u00a0 (Remember, I did start Medicare this month.)\u00a0 I just think we may be sliding down a slippery slope to disconnected-ness in an age where\u00a0 simply talking to one another other might be far more worthwhile.<\/p>\n

Is that so wrong?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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