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Along Life’s Way
Do You Have a
Tech Addiction?
By Lois E. Wilson
Eleven years ago I wrote this verse:
Evolution: Now
Hear This
Psychics predict
by a not too distant year,
Babes will be
born with a cell phone on one ear.
It seems our civilization is being seduced by technology. At first
telephones were boxes that hung on the wall. Then they became desk
phones, base portable phones, cell phones, and now smartphones. Once
computers were room size; they have been shrunk to PC size, lap top and
now are hand held. Today technology is more and more intimate with us.
I would guess that the only “touch” some folks enjoy today is that of
their touch screens.
It’s rare to see a group of people without at least one of them staring
down at their current device. You are exposed to others using devices
in stores, restaurants, doctors’ waiting rooms, while driving, and
occasionally at church. People wait in long lines to purchase the next
generation of products. With some, it is a mania.
You’ve probably seen the ad with the coach at his team’s dinner. He is
desperately trying to motivate the boys, but the team members ignore
him for they are fully engrossed with their various devices. Once in
the early 70’s, we had our son’s high school basketball team and his
coaches to our house for dinner. No devices then—it was a before-game
event to increase team unity.
Common Sense Media is an independent, nonprofit organization which some
years ago launched its Device Free Dinner campaign. It has sponsored
ads which illustrate families eating dinner in this “tech” age. Food
writer Marion Cunningham thinks dinner should not be “gobble and go.”
She states: “Food is more than fodder. It is an act of giving and
receiving, because the experience at table is a communal sharing; talk
begins to flow, feelings are expressed, and a sense of well-being takes
over.”
One ad shows a small child at dinner trying to get his parents’
attention so that he can tell them about school. But his mom and dad
are each tuned into their devices and only give the boy cursory
responses without ever looking at him. He stares ahead with a
frustrated and futile look. All children deserve our attention.
“Vice” is defined as “moral corruption or a habitual shortcoming.”
Don’t you think it’s time to go on a digital diet, to “de-vice our
devices” so we can sincerely interact with those around us whom we care
about and love? If I had a hand-held device, I’d turn it off for you.
If you don’t give me the same courtesy, as the saying goes “I’ll leave
you to your own devices.”
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