REFLECTIONS
By ELISABETH ANN BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Growing up in the ’60s we didn’t have computers in every hand or social media in our faces all day, and life was very quiet by comparison. In my case we didn’t even have a rotary telephone or black and white TV in our home. We did eventually catch up with the 20th century when I was 16 and we had just moved to Alberta, Canada, with my father’s regiment, where he was part of the permanent staff on a tank training base.
We had a push button phone with a four-digit number and a colour TV with one whole channel! Entertainment for me as a child was very diverse and often hands-on. I read a lot of books – my favourites were Black Beauty and The Water Babies – and listened to the radio in the evenings. Our favourite little ‘soap opera’ was a BBC production called ‘The Archers’. My parents took me on woodland walks, visits to castles and museums, the opera, and while at home I amused myself teaching myself French or playing at being a nurse.
When I got a little older, around 11 years of age, I took up roller skating, bicycle riding and ice skating while we were stationed in Germany. I remember my father making me a little transistor radio in a Swan matchbox; it had an earphone! This was in the late 1960s, and I used it to listen to Radio Luxembourg to catch the latest hit songs in the pop music world. I guess you could say it was my first ‘Walkman’! In Canada we went camping in the Rockies at every opportunity, and visited a lot of museums and natural history exhibits.
My children grew up pretty much the same way. I encouraged reading and educational but fun toys, and as much as possible visits to places of historical interest. We were in The Bahamas and there was not much available there, so we spent time on the beaches snorkeling to find colourful little reef fish. On our trips to Canada to visit my parents, we made sure to visit the mountains and interactive museums. So it took my generation and theirs a little while to adjust to the advent of cell phones, personal computers and video games.
At times I feel that technology has raced passed me, and I struggle to keep up with it. I have a cell phone, but I don’t feel the need to have the very latest one every time a new model comes out; my two year old one will do just fine. I hate having to go through all the saving of personal information and setting up that you have to do every time you upgrade a phone! I have a Kindle – there is such an advantage to being able to store books without them getting dusty and taking up so much shelf space. And I have a laptop, and because I need one I have a fancy digital camera. I enjoy researching for information and blogging, so I am quite ‘modern’ at nearly 63 years of age.
But when it comes to social media I feel overwhelmed. Sure, I know how to use it, but really, why do I need to have an Instagram account as well as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Viber and a load of others? Then there are the groups on Facebook. Some people seem to join every group available. No wonder some of us spend all day on social media.
So what do we really get out of all this ‘socializing’? After joining a few groups that were relevant to where I lived — even though I am not there anymore, I still maintain a connection with friends abroad through one or two of them — I began to look at the kind of conversations people were having. Politics of course seems to be the hottest topic. Understandable, a lot is going on in the world today, and we should try to keep up with things not only that are relevant to where we live, but in the world around us as we no longer live in isolation. The internet has connected us all around the globe. We know about the latest incident in just about any country in the world minutes after it has happened. And oh boy, we have opinions about it too!!
As I wade through the 150 comments that are posted seemingly within seconds of the breaking news, I am astonished by the lack of knowledge of the topic and the number of links that will be posted to back up that lack of knowledge. I soon learned that many of these links come from unreliable sources, but oh my goodness, you cannot tell the people posting them that they have posted fake news and are likely to be getting phished as a result of it!
And then I see a comment by someone that I patently disagree with. I say so, I think in as polite a way as I can, and suggest they check out an alternative source that is more reliable. Why did I do that? Look out, sling shots, bows and arrows, and heavy mortar are suddenly directed at me. My opinion is attacked based on my race (obvious from my profile picture since I actually use a real one of me), my gender, my assumed political and religious beliefs, where I currently live, who I am married to, and so on and so on. I am thinking, wow – I only made a comment for discussion, why all the hostility?
I don’t know any of these people, some of them don’t even have real names, they are hiding behind fake profiles. But still, the attacks have a bit of a sting, and I am left feeling somewhat hurt and a bit deflated. So I decide to leave the conversation and scroll through the group to see what else is being said. To my dismay, it is much of the same – everyone seems to be on the warpath with everyone they encounter. Celebrities and public figures are getting their lives picked apart like carrion. Nobody can seemingly say anything nice to anyone. Nobody it seems is using Facebook or the limitless information of the internet for anything positive. A social monster has been created.
Meeting people face to face can never be replaced by Facebook, Twitter, or any other app. Humans are social creatures and we need to be able to connect in physical groups. It seems that we have taken the whole social media thing to a level that is becoming very destructive and interfering with natural social behaviours. Sure, it is useful to be able to send a message or call someone and get an almost immediate response, especially if you are looking for an address to meet up with them; but nothing, absolutely nothing, can replace human contact — that connection that you make eye-to-eye that tells you if the person you are sitting across from is someone who is interesting, someone you would like to get to know better or want to hold an actual conversation with!
It seems to me that as people interact more anonymously on social media, they are losing that ability to connect on a really human level. Compassion has been exchanged for apathy and anger, and language has been greatly altered. We no longer communicate in full sentences. We use abbreviations like LOL and BRB, and some that only the very young seem to understand! Which is probably just as well! The need to learn spelling, grammar and punctuation has gone out of the window. We really are not getting smarter, it seems to me. The younger generations are being dumbed down. They are very adept at learning how to use all the newest electronic devices, but are they using them for real learning, for constructive activities, or meaningful communication?
Or am I just getting old and jaded? Sigh…………oh well, thanks for listening, ttyl………..
REFLECTIONS is a new column being introduced by BAHAMAS CHRONICLE, an online news publication published by THE BROWN AGENCY. Elisabeth Ann Brown is Vice President and Creative Director of THE BROWN AGENCY.
