Friday Rant
I'm just as connected (Blackberry, cell phone, wireless laptop in the kitchen etc.) as the next person but people are almost too connected these days to the point of being unfocused and impolite. Here's a good example: I was at the grocery store yesterday, and the women in front of me was having a loud, animated conversation on her cell phone while she checked out. It was like the cashier, her three children and other people in the store didn't exist because she had pressing things to talk about. It's the same for people who talk on the phone while driving. There's no way you can do both at the same time but we let people use cell phones even though there's plenty of evidence that it's distracting and potential dangerous. I'm not against being connected but everything has a time and place.
October 6th, 2006 at 2:19 pm
Great post. Made for good reading on the 'berry. Nearly dropped my coffee.
Man, traffic's a bugger this aft.
October 6th, 2006 at 2:36 pm
Okay Mark, now you're just lobbing stuff up there!
Yes, we are too connected and not connected enough. We are too connected to those things that matter not, and not connected enough with our physical community and family.
Ever wonder why the Old Order Mennonite's suppress technological advances? Not as much to do with theology as you might think. The car is seen as a means to leave the community. The phone is a means to spread divisive gossip. Electricity leads to TV which leads to sitting alone in a room full of family.
I think they are on to something.
However, these are still tools and it is up to us to determine if we will use these tools to build as the hammer sets the nail, or to use these tools to breakdown as the hammer pulls the nail.
October 6th, 2006 at 7:41 pm
I am convinced that talking on a cell phone in public makes people feel important. People who have a “look at me” disability are quite often the ones who are the loudest.
Me, I'm the kind of person who will press the wee “ignore” button, (99% of the time) until I can get somewhere more private.
-jules