Eagle-Eyes spotted it, as usual, but it was my wife (not Hammerhead) that thinks the above headline in the Press Democrat “hits the nail on the head.” She absolutely refused to allow me to “steal” $599 from her “cookie jar” to buy one of the Apple iPhones that went on sale as of 6 p.m., Friday night. Since then, the media blitz has been phenomenal.
My “better-half” immediately picked out a few of the sentences in Derek Moore’s PD article to substantiate her position on the use of computer technology in our daily lives. For example: “Do devices such as the iPhone foster community building or social isolation?” (She has yet to read any of my blogs designed to promote building online communities.)
Then there is, “There is no ‘We’ in I, My and You.” She agrees 100% with SSU professor, John Sullins, when he states, “My theory is that what we’re doing is immersing ourselves to the point thatwe are building a fantasy cocoon around us.” (Hmm, those words are certainly food for thought.) OK, let’s call a group meeting of “Me, Myself, to discuss this thought. True – there are days when I spend hours parked in front of a computer screen checking e-mail messages, writing blogs, and searching for information here and there, all online. I no longer have to depend upon the telephone or the public library. All the information I need is right there – at my finger tips and the click of a mouse. What? You want me to take a 20-minute break and walk a mile for exercise? I can’t because I have too much to do with the help of the computer. Where would I be without it? I don’t play games or watch YouTube or MySpace. Nor do I listen to music; I’m too busy incubating community building projects for my Petaluma “Egg Basket, which contains: Our Petaluma Electronic Network (OPEN), the Sages of Petaluma, NERT, CERT, ALERT, and the Petalumans of Yesteryear.
I will admit, I do have a small sign above my computer that says, “Do Not Disturb – Computer Addict at Work.” You might ask, “What good is all this electronic networking and blogging? What are you accomplishing, if anything?” Me, Myself and I might reply, “It’s building a sense of community at the local level and strengthening democracy.”As Harold Rheingold, a longtime user and pioneer in community networking states in the article, “If you believe having more people in the conversation is better for democracy, that’s a good thing. But where is the quality of that debate?” Rheingold is not alone in his concern that “technology may be outgrowing our ability to establish accepted norms for its use.” If the number of comments I’ve received to over 200 blogs is any indication, I would have to conclude that my readers just aren’t getting involved. (Please don’t say, “Why bother? Maybe your blogs aren’t worth responding to anyway.”) In my mind, it’s by “Me,” but it is about “We” and for “Us.” Maybe Sullins is on the right track after all. Even though we now have the world in the palm of our hands, we still have a lot to learn about how best to use “it” in our daily lives as we live, work, play and learn. Stay tuned.
P.S. This blog was composed at 3:30 a.m. and scheduled for posting tomorrow. Since then; however, today’s regular morning newspapers have arrived and “Me” (not “I” or “Myself”) have spotted with the help of “Eagle-Eyes” another headline that deserves your attention. Today’s your lucky day because you’ll get two blogs to react to, if you wish. There’s more to come as we get ready for the 4th of July week.