Busy With Inertia

 

I enjoy my electronic devices and appreciate how they’ve made some portions of my life easier and more enjoyable.

 

 

• Typing this column is easier to do, correct, save, send and retrieve with my computer and the external hard drive.

 

• Saving, enhancing and sharing my photos are all easier with my camera, external hard drive storage and programs to manipulate the finished products.

• Phones, note pads, music, movies, and literature are all instant and occasionally trouble free.

• Correspondence and photos with family and friends all over the world helps me stay in contact like never before.

• The applications are never ending and improvements are almost daily. 

• Gaming has become such a big business it drives the devices used to run them.  It has fostered toys, movies, sub cultures, and industry.

Has anyone but me noticed there’s a down side?

Do you wonder if anyone has an original thought or are we only pulling cute or profound preprinted posters from the past?

 

 Do friends and family spend more time “pinning” cute ideas and photos on Pinterest than actually accomplishing those things?

 

tHas reality slid into what the fictional character in the game, TV show, movie or song did rather than what the people you know accomplished or needed today?

 

Has a tweet, twitter, message or text replaced the time needed to foster a good relationship?

 

Do most people know the difference between fact and commercial advertising?

 

Is it becoming harder to differentiate between the unbiased and hidden agenda reporting?

 

Is the sheer volume of information contributing to desensitization to things needing attention? 

    

This article isn’t about left or right wing politics.  It’s not about age, sex, or religion related preferences.  It’s not about a disdain for the new or holding on to the old. 

It’s about have we considered if our use of devices, and the absorption of information they provide, to the best advantage possible.  Or, are we letting ourselves (and our family) become an open vessel for any agenda.

In a free nation, the responsibility doesn’t lie with the provider as much as with the consumer. 

Use of these items is much like gardening.  Yes, you knew I’d tie this SOMEHOW to gardening!

 A wildflower can be beautiful.  Put it in the middle of your front flower bed and it can take over and kill all the flowers you especially love. 

• Wildflower positive and negative attributes need to be considered before moving them into your personal space.
• You need to read more than one advertisement, research what independent experts say and understand the long term impact before purchasing a wildflower.
• Assess if there’s negative qualities:  is it poisonous, is it toxic to other plants, or is it considered invasive.
• Can it be easily removed if you find it’s unsatisfactory?
• Is it necessary and difficult to keep it away from children and pets?
• Can you monitored to make sure it doesn’t take over where it shouldn’t be.
• Does it take more care than you’re available or willing to provide.

Yep, see the parallel?  Substitute the name of your current application and it applies.  It’s not about an item being bad or good; it’s about taking responsibility for how and how much it’s used.  And that folks is good advice for electronics and gardening.

• Side Note:  A funny on this post - I could not get the bullet points to show up in the right places.  Aw yes, an affirmation on how much technology is serving me.  Sigh!