Time was when an unruly child was sent to his/her room or grounded as fitting punishment. Today a more fitting discipline would be to be deprived of all their electronic devices and sent outside to play. A child’s bedroom used to be for sleeping accompanied by teddy bears and dolls. Today it contains a flat screen TV, sophisticated game controllers and remotes; fancy sound systems, tablets, computer systems, smart phones; DVD players, MP3 players, fancy head phones, even virtual reality helmets. Hence the phenomenon of Parents texting their kids that a meal is ready as the only means of making contact with a child totally wired into their devices.
It is ironic that in a world where people are in constant online contact actual human contact is becoming an endangered species. Hanging at the mall has been replaced by online chatrooms and Facebook. In this digital arena it is possible to have thousands of online friends from all over the world that one has never met, never will meet, and of whom you have no idea what they look like or if they actually are the person they claim to be. Cyber bullying has become a new catch-phrase and can be as emotionally damaging as the physical variety.
There’s a price to be paid for all this electronic interaction. Beyond the impossibility of socially interacting with thousands of individuals the lack of physical interaction is alienating. The irony of the situation is that persons with thousands of online friends are lonely. All this electronic ‘activity’ leads to a sedentary lifestyle that results in obesity. The psychological effects of violent electronic games is still under study; what has definitely changed is the desire for instant gratification. Online gaming is instantaneous. Whereas a game of chess by mail with a pen pal could take years online it can be over in minutes.
This addiction to electronic devices has had a definite social cost. Whereas my Father preferred to get in his truck and drive to talk with his friends rather than use a phone today people who are in the same room text one another. Online service providers and cell phone networks are capitalizing on this addiction. The anonymity provided by electronics has become a goldmine for the providers of pornography of all kinds. Even prelates succumb to its dubious charms.
It is ironic that in a world where people are in constant online contact actual human contact is becoming an endangered species. Hanging at the mall has been replaced by online chatrooms and Facebook. In this digital arena it is possible to have thousands of online friends from all over the world that one has never met, never will meet, and of whom you have no idea what they look like or if they actually are the person they claim to be. Cyber bullying has become a new catch-phrase and can be as emotionally damaging as the physical variety.
There’s a price to be paid for all this electronic interaction. Beyond the impossibility of socially interacting with thousands of individuals the lack of physical interaction is alienating. The irony of the situation is that persons with thousands of online friends are lonely. All this electronic ‘activity’ leads to a sedentary lifestyle that results in obesity. The psychological effects of violent electronic games is still under study; what has definitely changed is the desire for instant gratification. Online gaming is instantaneous. Whereas a game of chess by mail with a pen pal could take years online it can be over in minutes.
This addiction to electronic devices has had a definite social cost. Whereas my Father preferred to get in his truck and drive to talk with his friends rather than use a phone today people who are in the same room text one another. Online service providers and cell phone networks are capitalizing on this addiction. The anonymity provided by electronics has become a goldmine for the providers of pornography of all kinds. Even prelates succumb to its dubious charms.
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