There's cause for concern on many fronts in our overwhelming dependence on technology. We now have people who work in the same building never coming face-to-face anymore because it's easier (and faster) to send an email or text message. The impersonal nature of such communications is fraught with many dangers. Just ask the people who've pushed send when they should have said end. More than one career has gone down the toilet by a hastily scrawled email sent in anger or jest. Plus who can ignore all the implications the lack of physical movement has on us.
Rather than exercising your fingers, get off your duff and go and speak to your fellow employee. The trip down the hallway might be just what you need to calm down. You'll be doing your heart a lot of good on several levels by getting rid of all that adrenalin coursing through your system.
And our love affair with instant communication has other insidious consequences. Just ask the many people who've been impacted (in some cases physically) by the driver who chose to use his or her vehicle as a phone booth. As Brooke Cooney outlines so pointedly in her Teen Talk column (page A29) this week the number of accidents attributable worldwide to cell phone use is scary. Here on the Coast where every second driver seems to have learned his or her driving etiquette on the mean streets of Vancouver why add another element of distraction to the mix. It's been said many times if you have to take the call, pull over. Better still leave the phone off and just use it for an emergency as Brooke suggests. The young voice of reason, it would do us all well to listen. For those who insist they can't do business without spending every waking moment on their cell phone or the (highly addictive) BlackBerry -we beg to ask: What did you do before you had these distracting toys?
A final note about technology concerning young people. It is increasingly difficult in this world of 30-second sound bites for a teacher to be able to hold a student's attention without having to compete with ubiquitous text messaging. If you want the answer as to why this has become such a phenomenon you have only to look in the mirror. Hopefully it's not the one on the side of your vehicle that reflects the driver with a cell at ear.
We challenge you - go gadget free for a week. The effort could save your life.
