Following last week’s post about my interrupted schedule, I find that for once, I am grateful for snow. The snow over the last few days has stopped the corn harvest and given me a break to think about a new topic for the next series of posts.
While thinking about that next topic, this delightful cartoon was sent to me by a friend who shares the same concern as I do with the current infatuation with gadgets that allow constant connectedness.
The cartoon does not come with any attribution and appears to be in the public domain.
Gadgets and technology that also provide the ability to instantly capture and broadcast the most trivial as well as the most important happenings.
There is a lot that is good about smart phones, they can make our lives easier and more enjoyable. They can as easily waste huge amounts of time, cost us money and put our lives in danger.
Technology and gadgets are not the problem, people have become infatuated with innovation in both since early man first discovered clubs made better weapons than fists.
Another example of strange priorities was a news item yesterday that reported four drivers had been fined for using their cell phones to take photographs of a vehicle accident on one of our major highways in the first snowstorm of the winter.
I often criticise the police for being overly enthusiastic about issuing fines for trivial offences. Posing as homeless people at intersections to trap people using phones while stationary at traffic lights for example. But using phones to take photographs of accidents while driving in a snow storm on slippery roads is irresponsible by any standard, those drivers deserved the fines.
For a last thought on smart phones and electronic gadgets read this article from MSN Travel about the village that is completely cell phone and wireless free.
The village of Green Bank situated East of Washington, DC is the home of the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope. Cell phone and wifi signals interfere with its ability to pick up very faint signals from space. A radio emission free zone has been established around the village.
People suffering from sensitivity to cell phone and radio signals are moving to the village and finding relief. Long term residents who have never had cell phones say they do not miss them.
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I need some more info. Were the picture takers driving when taking the pictures? Or had they stopped due to road conditions and just witnesses of the accident? You don’t say. What could they have done? Could they have saved some one’s life or not. There is simply not enough facts for me to make an educated statement on their behavior.
However, I am in basic agreement about your concerns on ‘constant connectedness.’ I still remember in the 80’s driving to various meetings throughout Ohio and having to get out of the car and call into my office at a restaurant or gas station. Had to have coins and stand in line. I liked that much better than all this constant connectedness. Had time to enjoy the beauty of the drive and time to think.
Too much connectedness is tiring and even dangerous in a way. We forget who we are. Is that good or bad? I don’t know. I just know I like and need rime for just me and my own thoughts.
My understanding is that the motorists who were fined for taking photos were driving past the accident scene in the one lane that was still open for traffic. There were no serious injuries and police and emergency personnel were on hand to attend to those requiring assistance.
That’s why the police, and I agree, considered the photo taking while driving dangerous.
Love the comic – unfortuntately it looks almost all too believable. Just like everything – there’s a time and a place where things are appropriate and they are not.