Electronic devices are bringing us closer together and further apart. When I was a kid, I remember my mother insisting the TV be off when we had company. In time, in our family and many others, this was lost and this Christmas family celebration at my brother’s and son’s the TV went off only during dinner time or exchanging Christmas gifts. The new development is the use of ‘devices’, smart phones, tablets, computers, I Pods and I Pads. At family everyone had one and except for dinner was on it. A couple persons played games against each other or with other persons on the devices. Some used it for entertainment, watching TV shows, Netflix or the like. Some used the devices for communications, emails, text messages, tweets and such. Some like me and students, use the devices for information and research. For most families, middle class or above, everyone has a device and communicate with each other or anyone they choose to. On a recent trip to Outback Bowl my son and his family were part of the Pulaski band that went to Tampa to play at game and parade. My daughter-in-law, a chaperone as my son, was able to keep in touch with youth on the trip, with parents at home, with family or friends, even us that had gone to Tampa. Using Facebook she was able to share videos and pictures of the trip with whoever she wanted to.

I am not immune to this consistent use of phone. I am not a big fan of GPS systems but in Tampa the GPS system on our phone got my wife and me around the city in our rented car. In a strange city it really made a difference giving us directors to band practices, parades and performances as well as getting around to various sites, even finding a good place nearby to eat. You can find people on the bus, watching the football game, walking down the street on their device.

This phenomenon of individual persons on ‘devices’ can be found all over the world. I first noticed it in Palestine and Israel in a 90’s trip where people were using cell phones. For many low income persons and seniors a phone is used to phone call or text. However, for the younger generations, non-poor, the phone is just a device to get on the internet to use Facebook, email or the many other services.

Yes the ‘devices’ are bringing us closer together, but despite my New Year’s resolution to be more positive I need to warn how ‘devices’ can bring us apart. When all ‘devices’ were removed from us a few weeks ago when we got arrested for demanding justice for the killing of Dontre Hamilton, a wide diversity of people in our cell got into meaningful conversations. However, once we went free the contacts were lost unless we were on contact or ‘friends’ list with the others. Devices can divide us by giving us lots of information, and distracting us from experiences and use of our imagination. Not much is left for the imagination with devices, watching TV, communicating, and researching. Devices make us think we ‘know it all’ and we lose track of our insignificance in the course of history. On devices when someone gets killed they usually can be revive to see another day. Death becomes just a common place things and the feeling of death, that keeps us balanced, can be lost in the escape of devices.
Also the distances between rich and poor, young and old, increases with one group having almost unlimited availability to devices and the other limited to cell phones and text. So while devices unite us they also divide us.

Comments

Please send any comments on this post to . Let us know which day’s post your comments pertain to. If the comments are appropriate we will post them here for you.