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Screening Out the Empathy: The Impact of Screen Culture on Our Brains
As the online world continues to expand, Oxford University's Baroness Professor Susan Greenfield has warned excessive screen culture may be changing the way our brains are wired.
As the online world continues to expand, Oxford University's Baroness Professor Susan Greenfield has warned excessive screen culture may be changing the way our brains are wired. (photo: Flickr user Ed Yourdon) The effect of screen culture on the brain is not dissimilar to symptoms associated with attention deficit disorder, such as a shorter attention span and decline in empathy.
Professor Greenfield points to her native England where the number of prescriptions for ADHD has trebled in the past decade.
It is unclear what has driven the rise - it could be that doctors are being more liberal with prescriptions or increased awareness of the condition, or its higher prevalence. Whether there is a link between time spent with screens and the condition is also unclear. But, she argues, this is evidence enough of the need for more research.
''There should be more money for research into why games are addictive, what mental processes are being tapped into ... There should be development with neuroscientists and software writers on how to deliver experiences and the kind of talents that we think might be in jeopardy.''
While we are born with pretty much all the neurons we will ever have, the growth of the human brain revolves around the way connections are made between brain cells.
In Australia to deliver the annual Florey lecture, at the University of Adelaide this evening, Professor Greenfield argues the ''yuck and wow'' scenario of the internet - ''where you live in the short-term world where you have immediate reactions to things that flash up in your face and bombard your ears'' - might drive brain connections and brain cell circuitry in a way that shortens the attention span.
''It's wonderful that we might have high IQs, not be risk-averse, have good short-term memories ... but in a sense we're turning ourselves into efficient computers,'' the professor of pharmacology said.
''But what we do that computers don't do is be very creative and have insights. I would be very sad if the next generation wasn't given the opportunity to do those things.''
She said ''a similar level of sponsorship, effort and diversity'' should be invested in the area to push it into the mainstream as had been done in climate change research and debate.
''Society, governments and teachers really need to start working together on long-term study.
''I'm not going to say that's endangering the life of the planet in the way that climate change is, but for sure it could be changing the face of society and the way we live.''
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Show AllThe increasing time I spend web-browsing has certianly revived the ADHD that I had difficulties with as a kid. My ability to get things dome on the job without succumbing an obsessive "urge for a web-based distraction" is just like my memories of when I was flunking 6th grade.
My book reading is also way down as a result of this too.
In a recent visit to Toronto, I saw vastly less of this scarey cell-phone/texting/browsing addiction one sees in the US. Not once did I see a cell phone or pda or other such gadget being used in a restaurant or bar and only sparsely, while passing through the financial district, on the streetcar of bus. Of course, Canadians are also visibly more cheerful and upbeat compred to home. You could feel it everywhere.
So, maybe this screen-addiction is an escape mechanism for USAns too.
As a Canadian, thank you, SaboCat, for your compliment.
However, in everyday life in Canadian cities usage is fairly high, especially the texting. I think - and this is my impression as a social scientist - that you may see less of it in restaurants because it is still considered to be rude unless you have warned your fellow diners that you are expecting an important call. Buses are fair game as are stores and everyone seems happy to talk to someone while shopping - somewhat like having an invisible friend accompanying you except they are real persons somewhere in the physical world. But then, recently, I have seen a man speaking into his watch and him hearing it answer even though I was close and it really didn't. He threatened to kill the invisible speaker through the wrath of the gods.
Classroom studies? Nah, the students are not typing away their little hearts taking notes; they are texting their buddies on facebook. I must add though, that some students use them to find something to contest the theories presented in lectures to which, I give them a high five even if the information came from Wikipedia. It can often be quite well sourced.
At times I have had to do a double take when seeing someone walking down the street seemly talking to themselves - those phones are taking me a longer time to adjust to.
SaboCat, I regret to report that bad and getting worse though it is, the US does not manifest the most exaggerated cases of screen addiction I have personally witnessed. You should give a subway ride in Seoul a whirl. Every-fucking-body (save a few oldsters and the one-in-a-hundred person reading a printed book or newspaper) is watching a mini-TV, yakking on the cell phone, texting away, plugged into an i-pod, fiddling with a video game, or otherwise fidgeting with some such wireless/portable gadget (and often multi-tasking two or three of these devices/activities). To witness it is mind- and spirit-numbing... personally I experience the same nihilistic sensation I get after driving through a couple dozen miles of identikit US exurbia. (I won't even begin to analyze what percentage of the young and middle-aged women on said trains are toting luxury handbags and sporting the results of plastic surgery. Or mention the fact that there is scarcely a restaurant where one is not involuntarily subjected to reality show/soap opera/game show programming on ultra-huge flat panel screens.)
One problem with the US left is its provincialism -- too often its denizens wrongly assume that the most grotesque deformations of consumer capitalist "culture" (sic) reach their apogee in the US. Or that the prevalence of this crap elsewhere is primarily attributable to US cultural imperialism. Ironically such a worldview anachronistically hearkens back to the day when the US global regime actually had the hegemonic power to impose its will or induce a following.
I now have the same problem with being able to calmly and patiently read through a book as you do, even though I am barely middle-aged and success in my vocation requires being a voracious book reader. In my experience there is definitely a negative feedback loop b/w having ADHD tendencies and screen addiction (and in my case, fatigue and distractibility triggered by food allergies/digestive problems).
Thanks for the comment. I heard that internet/texting/cell phone addiction is bad in Korea - particularly children.
And the big TV's in the restaurants IS disturbing - I had thought that that was mostly a US phenomenon.
"...Oxford University's Baroness Professor Susan Greenfield has warned excessive screen culture may be changing the way our brains are wired."
My observation is that the computer screen (and the telephone screen) have become the baby-sitter that TV was for a previous generation. Mindless video games and inane text messages rule the day.
Our kids and grandkids seem to have no grasp of our nation's history or current events. Their brains are gobbled up by infotainment that is designed to keep them numb while they somnambulate through meaningless lives.
Yeah, I know. I'm old and I'm starting to sound like my grandfather. Nonetheless, these are my observations.
I think this lack of knowledge of history is Americans in general, not just the Youth. I do not know how many times I have had to educate the generation that came before me about history they actually lived through before I was born.
For instance, how many times do you hear older people, even those born before 1948, talk about how Jews and Muslims have been at war for thousands of years?
from the article:
~ ''I'm not going to say that's endangering the life of the planet in the way that climate change is, but for sure it could be changing the face of society and the way we live.'' ~
of course, it is...the manufacture, use and disposal of this equipment is environmentally toxic, fraught with labor and crime issues, and gargantuan in scope...
our obsession with electricity must end...just as our obsession with industry...
will end...
I read and agree and am informed by many of the comments, most especially those about Korea. However your comment about our obsession with electricity resonated the most with me after a recent experience. We had a summer storm here and for a little while (1 1/2hr) had a power outage. I had been talking with my husband at the time and after we noted the event, continued and ended our conversation, I got up to continue my early evening routine. I realized 'whoops can't do that(load of laundry)I guess I'll... whoops can't do that (continue cooking the dinner I had planned). "Oh well might as well enjoy my unexpected downtime, I'll go on the inter-n-e-t." Um... wow, uh I've dinked around long enough, there isn't even enough light for me to read a book by. I ended up going to bed VERY early, so we'd be up in time with or without electric alarms. I remembered kvetching about the electric bill a few days earlier and I realized why it is so high. Our household uses a lot of electricity. Not as much as many of my students and co-workers but still significant amounts of kilowatts. My sons had the same experience so we've recommitted to being more mindful to minimize it for the planet and our pocketbook.
Indeed. And actually, this could be quite directly connected to solving global emergencies such as climate change. We need 'insightful' human beings in order for creative solutions to emerge.
I spent some time with a fourteen year old boy, who is pretty intelligent. I wanted to 'see' what games he was playing. He isn't at all a violent kid. However, i didn't see one game where someone wasn't being blown up or there wasn't a violent component. And he was absolutely oblivious to it.
These games make kids feel a false sense of empowerment, because in their virtual world, they can feel invincible and believe me, i see no compassion. The 'enemy' is always very dehumanized and he referred to his 'character' in the game as "I". A lot of focus was on the quality of the graphics, etc. as well. Very, very detatched.
Anyway, my two cents.
Well considering how unempowered we are as individules these days. I think a little escapism can be tolerated. in my day pre-atari we only had books. Heinlin and EE Smith are so much btter than the Harry Potter and wizards and dungens garbage we get today. It's all the same though escapism.
As humans today we get ro do so little, we can't hunt our food, can't properly pick a mate. Half the time I don't know her hair color unless her parents have old photos around, and everyone has the same blamk chemical sent. So most of our sences are cut off. We also never get to properly finish an argument, of a sentance, We are animals even though so many want to disprove it. We need to be stimulated by the world.
I also had teachers in school so board with what they were doing it was sick, and with tenure they didn't care if it showed. So why should I be interested, later of course I was on my own, though only in reference to reading. I like to cross reference things for myself. :)
The screens are not inherantly evil. I get a lot of History and educational stuff thru my cable provider. You just have to remember to shut it off and go outside.
>^^<
Prof Greenfield may well be right, but she will need evidence to support her claims. Coming from a country where Prozac has been detected in the ground water, I'd say she has a host of mechanisms to explain.
To WTF - watch her on Fora.tv giving a talk and then you may have a better sense of her way of thinking. She has some interesting views; I agree with some but, have difficulties with other points she brings up.
Gosh, I think back to the time when reading a book under the shade of a tree in the summer was a perfect way for me to spend the afternoon.
isn't it, though? well said...
Kicking back with an Amazon Kindle just doesn't have the same feel, does it?
But they do shoot out interesting colored flames when burnt.
LOL :)
>^^<
I remember that one of my "fantasies" until I was about 8 years old was to never having to go to school (hated school), but having lots of books and comics to read, while lounging on a house-boat in a lake.
this articular touches on more than meets the eye
the overwhelming dependencies and the survival requirement of adaptation produce attitudes among weaker onces seen as conservative tendencies, where they are purely illogical
its unknown, how temporary this is
edweg
Huh??
In my world conformity is more valued that creativity. I've learned if I have a better idea to keep it to myself.
That's what schools were trying to teach, I just didn't get it at the time.
I always like to read also, that tends to seperate one from the herd, grazing in front of the TV. Odd because I was raised partly by just such people. The others people were outside gardening or working on cars.. I just thank my gods my father never liked watching sports on TV but would go out and work in the garage. So I never picked up TV sports addiction. :)
>^^<
Its common to see people waiting for the elevator to instinctively reach for their crackberry/iPhone/texting device instead of engaging people in conversation as they wait alongside them. I make it a point to strike up a conversation with these people and make them engage me and not the blank screen.
I look forward to walks with my dog and bicycling without an iPod as its my time to unplug from the false electronic distractors and observe the world around me in its natural form.
Wow, I cannot imagine being able to go out for a walk or bicycle ride without being bombarded by traffic sounds,car stereos, the music blaring from the parking lot down the road, construction sounds, etc.
I'm lucky that way I get off at midnight and have the world to myself and my dog. Occasionally another dog barks from behind a wall or fence, we just look at each other and smile, their jealous and the night is ours. :)
>^^<
Living, breathing actual friends are also going the way of the empathy when one can have hundreds of Facebook friends,
as I understand, of course.
Also, conversations and meetings are sidetracked when a cell rings, a Blackberry pings, or a under the table one or two handed texter is "multitasking" with accompanying blank stare. DWT has become the future DWI, or until the next new thing.
All of the feel good films since WW1 have instilled a sense of a right, of Americans, to think of themselves as the chosen people of the earth. Chosen by God Almighty to lead all other nations and to love a nation that has murdered and stolen from other nations as we needed to. To feel patriotic and sit at home and be indifferent to all of those lesser peoples being killed and maimed as we salute Old Glory with a tear in our eye.Not a tear of sorrow for those murdered and robbed of their natural resources but a tear of glory as we did these deeds to protect American (business)interests and spread what we believe is democracy.
SAMIAMI: I think about it all the time, and of late, have FELT the sense of others' pain much more acutely.
When one takes in the magnitude of suffering, based on:
1. The quake that hit Haiti leaving a million "residing" in tents
2. The gangs in Congo and peviously Rwanda, and their sweeping kill-fests
3. The four million left homeless (and/or bereft of lost loved ones) in Iraq
4. The millions who've become "climate refugees" in Pakistan
5. The fishermen & shrimpers, along with those initially displaced by Katrina, who live along the Gulf of Mexico
6. The Palestians who live on "house arrest" in their own land
7. The millions who go hungry on a daily basis
8. The millions who have recently lost jobs and homes (in the U.S. and beyond)
9. The children who remain continuous victims of landmines, another "gift" from war
10. The death of nature in so many places... and even with all the calamitous shock waves, still the captains of government and industry do NOTHING to change course.
11. The Mexican-Americans on the receiving end of a virtual pogrom, torn from roots in "the land of the free."
12. The net effect of faux filler masked as food and a legion of obese kids who will have to wrestle with health defects probably for the rest of their lives
The scale of suffering is unimaginable. I term it "living in a state of paradox." For on the one hand, I do believe we should feel gratitude for the blessings in our lives; however, how can one feel blessed when so many are going without what they need? We were all born related to one another at essence. And therefore the conscience is always strained wondering: what can I do to make things better for others? Is it enough to write a check to a charity? Is it enough to try to raise awareness about such things in the hope that some groundswell will emerge to radically alter the policy of the most unapologetic batterer on the planet, my own nation's government (and its corporate partners in crime).
Sometimes I feel so much I can't cry.
Wow, Siouxrose... Maybe time to step back a little and remember that some of the guys like Gandhi, MLK, Mandela and even Jesus and Buddha couldn't really remove the suffering. But they haven't exactly "failed", have they? The energy lives on, and change doesn't always have to happen linearly or gradually. No empathy goes waste, even if we do not see its effect right away - at least that's what I tell myself when I feel somewhat powerless and overwhelmed.
ALCYON: It IS a lot to see. But why pretend all this is not going on, particularly since this thread is about empathy?
It's not about the Masters failing, it's about the balance being off. I have talked about this many times in this forum. What it costs a society when Mars rules, and now, what it's costing the world.
There is no life without the balance, and it calls for an equal respect for women, the Divine Feminine, Mother Nature, and certain sensibilities that have gone missing. Materialism of the most rabid resource depletion type has melded with Mars rules (i.e. the MIC) and the result is that things are dying at an unprecedented, accelerated rate.
When I learned that the Pakistan floods were exacerbated by the most intensive deforestation I've ever heard about, that once again showed that it is MAN MADE calamitous actions that are "bringing it on." Add that to similar deforestation in Haiti, an unfortunate approach based largely on the island's impoverishment thanks to global elites and how its financial status was treated. Then, too, the oil rigs plunging knives into the body of the Earth, so much oil shed like blood, and where is any change in the M.O?
I think it's patronizing for you to tell me to "step back a little." I bike ride and spend time by the water, but that does not change what is going on. Please, I hope you're not another one trying to silence the messenger, or demand political correctness when the ship is sinking.
No, Siouxrose, when I said it's good to step back a little, I honestly meant it - as it's something I have done to find some balance for myself. Especially knowing that what I can do **right this moment** is somewhat limited, beyond making a small monetary contribution every now and then. And almost every single day I think I should take a break from posting here because sometimes I wonder if I'm just adding more words - and adding to the noise both outside and inside my head as well. Try reading my post again, and I think you'll see there's nothing patronizing about it, other than a few words of support.
Much as I'd like to see the world "fixed" in my lifetime, I have to be prepared for the possibility that it may not happen. That's why I mentioned all those great people - despite their enormous energy, even they did not achieve everything they fought for.
It doesn't mean I'm going to sit and watch. I would most certainly like to see the **trend** reversed right now. Things may change, and fast - that's why I said "change doesn't always have to happen linearly or gradually." The reason I keep repeating the point about consumption and meat eating is because that's something that individuals and families can do **immediately**. Just by not doing certain things, so much greenhouse gas emissions can be avoided - almost instantaneously, and so much pain and misery can be reduced - if not to people, at least to other sentient beings, in short order. Who can say how fast things can change from there on? Quantum leaps may occur in the global consciousness.
In any case, as individuals, we cannot lose our peace and there is no point in despairing. I think I do shut myself off sometimes from too much bad news all around just to retain my sanity. I even try to find something frivolous to say - such as in my post below about rounding off the change to quarters. You know, in the aircraft, they tell the adults to put on the oxygen mask first in case of low pressure, before putting it on for the child, even though instinct would tell you to do otherwise? I'm not too good at that, but my dad has always told me to steady myself first before venturing to help others. I haven't always listened to his advice, but looking back, I think he has helped far more people than is considered possible for someone in his position - because I think he has conserved his mental energy somewhat. Ultimately that's what matters - what we do. And the great people I mentioned - look at them or think of them, and you'll see one thing about them was that they stayed cool for the most part.
The "doing" doesn't always have to be in physical or material terms, although that's extremely important too. That's why I said "The energy lives on ... No empathy goes waste, even if we do not see its effect right away." I see things are bad. But right this moment, I honestly feel I should stay cool for a variety of reasons. My post came from such a mindset, seeing that you were taking it all in so intensely.
Thanks, Jill. Glad you saw it that way :)
I can think of one recent exception, that being Avatar.
If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor (hint: it's a very very very thinly veiled allegory)
Did someone just tell you theres no Santa??
>^^<
I pretty much knew it but since I have become crippled/disabled, I see the lack much more clearly now, I went to a convention for my union and had to use a walker because I couldn't carry my books and such for meetings. Either I was invisible or in the way, nothing in the middle, and of course no one offered help.
Later I went to my state fair. I was having trouble walking so I tried renting an electric chair. Nothing was placed for wheelchair access. I tried to use a lift and before I could toggle forward four people jamed in and filled it ahead of me. Plus the invisible or in the way problem, I only stayed a bit over an hour, too furusturating, I always wondered before my accident why you don't see disabled people out and about very much.... now I know :(
>^^<
This would genuinely explain a lot.
My friends round the corner, who help me out because I am disabled semi-homebound on oxygen (husband cuts my grass, he and wife take me to doctor, kids fetch my mail, mop, sweet, vacuum for me, etc.)
One a month I get most of my groceries from Angel Food Ministries. Makes the difference between my being able to afford to eat healthy versus not.
Anyway, they put the stuff away for me, fridge, freezer, deep freezer, out of boxes.
One time, I saw something from a distance, I asked the 17 years old young man "Is that a small turkey, or a large chicken?" He read the label, and genuinely instantly replied, "Rooster."
He was not joking. He actually thought he read "rooster"!
No, he does not officially have any deficit, is considered especially intelligent when it comes to science, computers, and math. He is in special ADVANCED classes, accordingly.
His reading skill is standard, with the following exception. (Digression, sorry.) Back when I still drove, he accompanied me to grocery store. I had a list of about 5 things. I was not feeling well, and got into an electric cart. I said, "Lyle you go around and get the stuff, and bring it back. I'll catch up with you. You'll be faster than me." I handed him the list.
He said, "I can't read this. It's in cursive." He meant it. He swore he could not read written handwriting which he swore was "cursive" because that was the infantile name they gave it in his school. He said he was taught it ONE time, but was told he would NOT need it because "everything was going to be electronic."
I had a lot to say about that, and it was not positive: signing contracts, applications for car purchases, mortgages, checks, a long list. Things that PRINTING is NOT okay for, which was the ONLY way he KNEW now to WRITE his name.
I forced him to relearn handwritten script for his name, and explained it was NOT "cursive"!
That said, otherwise, in print, he reads normally.
Of course, it said "roasting hen." He got "roasting," stopped, and interpreted it as "rooster"!
This was NOT funny, folks.
It is genuinely symptomatic of someone genius at computers, but unable to slow down enough to read two printed words fully.
I have worked in schools for the last seven years. I can confirm everything you are saying here. This child is the rule, not the exception. And before someone jumps down my throat about "why isn't this being taught?" I would like to remind him or her about NCLB requirements not being quantified by standardized testing written in cursive or script handwriting. I would LOVE to be able to focus and build on the children's fine motor muscle skills with cutting, using scissors, in the younger grades and cursive handwriting in the upper levels but administration insists there is no time for such extras. And because many adults don't value it enough to spend time on it in the schools, the children don't see the need to practice it independently, either.
Siouxrose:
Again, thank you for expressing what I've been experiencing. It is overwhelming.
So ...I will do as much as I can, for as many as I can, for as long as I can with what I have to offer ...
MND: In a nation with SO many taking anti-depressants because events ARE depressing; and a good number using alcohol to merit similar results... I refuse to pretend. I have friends who don't want to know what's going on, and they run that number on me, "Could we talk about something more positive." I mean it's as if to get along one must consent to delusion! Our entire media is based on delusion, sublimation, and deception.
Remember, in times of such blatant propaganda, it IS a radical act to tell the truth. The more of us who get it and find the courage to wake from the collective dream turned nightmare, the greater the chances to build something new as the Phoenix rises.
And you definitely are in synch with the Tao to do as much as you can, for as many as you can, for as long as you have time on this earth. That's a great ethos to live by. I hope you can inspire others to follow your lead. May we "meet" again in these threads.
kinda like when you are at the cash register, the total is 16.11 You give the kid a $20, a $1, and .16c I am sure you all know the reaction and what is to come. It can't be done without looking back at the register after the blank stare or confused look. Our reliance is staggering.
Uh...don12560, you said "a $20, a $1, and .16c"? Did you mean 11 cents instead of 16?
Anyway, I do this all the time, to round off the change to quarters, and that's even more fun:
If the total is $3.89, for example, I would give a $10.14, so I would get back $6.25.
or
If the total is $8.38, I would pay $10.13, to get back $1.75.
What I do is basically add the excess change over the nearest multiple of 25 - that way I can also get rid of some loose change.
Yes the quickness, the SPEED, and the total disconnect.
Not funny at all. Damned dangerous. Zomboids running wild.
My brother-in-law, a career teacher and high school administrator, is no gadget-lover. He's gotten by over the years buying standard model cars and running them into the ground, and scrounging surplus computers from employers for home use. (He did have access to the newer equipment at the schools, and occasionally had use of state-of-the-art A/V equipment, but he didn't seem enthralled with electronic toys.)
Then he splurged for an iPhone a year or more ago and became an addict. He literally keeps the thing in his hand, or in with the cutlery at meals; if it's not in his hand, it's blaring classical music from his pocket.
It's an appendage, and the effect is reminiscent of one of those "Twilight Zone" scenarios in which a third-rate ventriloquist finds that his dummy has a life of its own. I honestly think it's a stretch to call it "unconscious", but during meals he either periodically consults the thing independently, and returns to the general conversation only long enough to find a pretext for looking something up on the thing... his Precious.
To move to larger point, blame it on all the Cold War sci-fi I sucked down as a kid and afterwards, but it's always, always been obvious to me that man proposeth, but technology disposeth. The really SMART machines understand that the mission is too important to be entrusted to illogical humans, whose cognitive clarity is permanently impaired by the static of emotion.
Thus, technological innovations ostensibly created to free and liberate manunkind invariably dominate and enslave it instead. My long tenure with a state agency, and especially its transition to the depraved, degraded, and dehumanized "call center" service-delivery model, is a sick history of technological improvements gradually reducing jobs to utterly depersonalized hive-mind drone functions.
Your call is important to us!
Sheep get like shepherds, and shepherds get like sheep, 'tis said.
It is important to keep your addictions balanced and under control. I am addicted to: love,sex, food , activism,fresh herbs,red wine, bicycles,music and 651 other interests! Oh yeah,and the internet! Evolution is a tricky business!
Yes there have been several pysc. studies that have shown a correlation between TV consumption and a lower ability to concentrate on tasks, particularly reading. The attention span is shortened and activiites that require extended concentration suffer. Cell phones and the internet have provided everybody with essentially a portable TV. Sure these are called communication devices but really, to me, they seem to be little more than infotainment delivery systems.
They are simply one more avenue for corporations to advertise on, push product through, and sell crap with. Much like my local paper is often more flyers than news, cell phones and the internet are often more about voting for celebrities and downloading ringtones than keeping people in contact.
Then there are the myriad surveillance and privacy issues highlighted by a recent article here on CD about the new iphone patent. I don't hear too much about it anymore, but there is some interesting studies that have found correlations between heavy adolescent cell phone use and brain cancers in later life also. These things are poison. They interfere with genuine human contact such as meals and conversations, they reduce interactions to an elementary level through short texts and abbreviations, and they greatly expand the reach of the telecommunication companies and all the negative messages they deliver.
But wait, they're totally advanced technology! That means they can't be too bad right? I mean we need technology to save us from global warming and fossil fuel dependence and any other problem humans are too damn lazy to solve.
That could also explain the lack of intamacy I see around me. I figured that it was because this country has some really sick notions about sex. But if you look at it that way.. it makes sence, Thank you I've been alone too long because people don't seem to know how to connect, slow down. Have a ten minuite conversation!
Even cats will stop for a good rubdown,, it's just people!
>^^<
How about learning to concentrate — and then TRYING to learn to meditate? It's amazingly helpful to learn that there are higher levels of consciousness!
Having traveled to a handful of countries that the West would deem "backwater" or "socialist" (which means they haven't succumbed to the toxic servings of globalization), it seemed like I was transported back in the time before these electronic gremlins took over. Hardly any mobile phones were seen,never saw an ipod, ipad, and the T.V.'s were mostly (gasp)non LCD/Flat screen...models from the 1990's
As a result, people were much more hospitable and generally more communicative with their friends, families, and strangers.
I noticed the kids in these societies played more, were out more often, and generally took an interest in the world around them.Also, more bookstores and outdoor cafes on every corner. No big box stores or Starbucks. Not so for the teenagers (and 30 something adults who act like teens with their gadgets)around here.
It's revolting how detached and shallow our society has become, in large part to texting and watching inane shows. Nihilistic.
We have outsourced slavery and brutal poverty to be exploited by the white folks to use to raise and sustain a fairy tale of national entitlement.and keep those monster international bankers and their corporate whores only wanting for more.All of this goes on as we collect our plastic treasures and sell our souls for "things"that are most excessive. Gotta go the mall opens in 30 minutes.Happy labor day to all we enslave to produce things to covet.
For the past 10-15 years I've had access to the basic gadgets, TV, PC, internet, landline & cell phone. Each offers limited convenience with a high potential for annoyance. But they also have OFF switches and clever filtering devices. Getting the benefit without the intrusion is simply a matter of good management.
(On my first PC I kept a little sign that said "I am a machine. I work for you. If you experience any confusion about this, turn me off and use the computer your Creator installed.")
The one device I've had since childhood and would be bereft without is still the absolutely best deal in town; my library card. I take comfort and reassurance from just being in the library, especially seeing parents there with their children who are excitedly checking out stacks of age appropriate books of literature, science, etc. And that, thank Goodness, is reason for hope.
Is it true that 87% of American drivers think it's just a damned shame that traffic congestion is so disruptive to their cell phone conversations?