Technology

The Times They Are A-Changin’

 http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/01/rip-stop-telegrams/425136/ In the past, sending a telegram was one of the fastest ways of sending a message. Today technology has changed that.

President-elect Trump will find it difficult to fulfill some of his campaign promises such as bringing back coal and manufacturing jobs. His followers want him to give them their country back and make it the way it used to be. Make America great again is the chant.

The good news is that, although there are many improvements to be made, America is already great. The bad news is that there is no backward time travel. Technology has built a wall behind us and our only choice is to move forward. If we don’t move forward, we will fail.

We all know how every four years or so, our computers are out-of-date. In the 1980’s I had a Kaypro computer and a Diablo daisy-wheel printer. Eventually, with new operating systems on the market, the Kaypro was retired. I looked for someone to buy the printer which once cost a whopping $500, but there were no buyers. In fact, there were no takers for a free item. It broke my heart to take that beautiful, expensive printer to the dump.

Sadly, that is the story for many. Technology, which has brought us smart TV’s, GoPro’s, mobile phones that take stunning photos and watches that talk like the ones in the old Dick Tracy comics, has created graveyards for things we used every day.

Advances in technology are not only challenging for individuals but for businesses too. Look at one of the largest success stories in this country, Kodak.

After a series of imaging technology successes by George Eastman in 1892, the Eastman Kodak Company began. The company introduced the public to a daylight-loading camera and over the years it grew and introduced new film products. By 1946, two years after I was born, Kodak had more than 60,000 employees. In 1975, Kodak invented the first digital camera that captured black and white images at .01 megapixels. Imagine that! By 1982 the company’s sales soared beyond the $10 billion mark with plants scattered around the country and abroad. Kodak was at its peak in 1988 when the company employed 145,300 workers worldwide. 

Kodak’s stock in 1999 had shares around $80. In 1990, its annual sales were $19 billion. In 2011, its stock was 78 cents per share and in 2012, Kodak entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. What happened?

In spite of inventing the world’s first digital camera, why did Kodak fail? The company failed to accept that digital technology would disrupt the film world which its empire centered on. Around 1981, the company conducted research with results revealing that digital could replace film in as short a time as a decade. With this information, Kodak had time to prepare to adapt to changing times.

The company did not learn from the history of its founder, George Eastman, who avoided earlier failure by recognizing that he had to change with the times. He gave up a profitable dry-plate business for film. Later he invested in color film, even though its quality was inferior to black and white. Kodak, however, did not prepare for the more recent overthrow of film. It was in denial.

Today, the company that used to be a household name has only $2 billion in sales annually and 8,000 employees worldwide. Its Rochester campus once had 200 buildings on 1300 acres. Today 80 buildings have been demolished and 59 others sold.

Like Kodak, other industries have declined in the face of technology and less demand for certain products.

For example, the coal industry is facing a decline in demand. With new inventions in technology and new ways of doing things, fewer miners were needed today. In 1914, there were 180,000 anthracite miners; but by 1970, there were only 6,000. Employment in bituminous that was used for generation of electricity was at 705,000 in 1923, 140,000 in 1970 and 70,000 in 2003. Also, a drop in natural gas prices after 2010 became severe competition for the coal industry. Coal production declined in the U.S. by 29% in the first weeks of 2016. Production expenses increased as President Obama pushed for changes to leasing of public lands for oil, coal and gas. “Rather than subsidize the past, we should invest in the future,” the President said. The movement today is away from coal toward cheaper natural gas, even in China. In 2014 and 2015, the amount of power generated from coal in the U.S. fell by 226,000 gigawatt-hours while the amount of power produced from natural gas increased by 208,000 gigawatt-hours. We are not using the same products that were once in demand.

Factory jobs have also decreased. The U.S. lost five million manufacturing jobs since 2000, not necessarily the result of trade with other countries. In 1960, one out of four American workers had manufacturing jobs. Today fewer than one in ten people work in the manufacturing sector. In our history, we have seen jobs go from fields to factories and now to service jobs such as nurses, personal care aides, cooks, waiters and retail sales. In another hundred years demand for service jobs might migrate to yet another area.

My husband is fond of saying he has proof that time travel exists but the bad news is it only goes in one direction. To survive, we need to adapt and change. Those who used to own a horse and buggy eventually bought cars. Those who used typewriters eventually moved to word processors and now computers. Times they are a-changin’. We can appreciate the past and fondly remember the days of our grandparents, but they will never come back. Nostalgia is one thing. Clinging to the past is another.

So, Trump supporters, it just ain’t going to happen. Your new President cannot roll back the clock.

LOVE: Top-Down and Bottom-Up

As a parent, I am aware that the example parents set — the language they use, their actions, their values — profoundly influence their young children. This is the top-down effect. Children are keen observers and followers.

As a retired teacher, I am so aware of how tone is set in schools. Beginning at the top, there is the superintendent who oversees all the schools in a system. Then there is the principal of each school and the teacher in every classroom, followed by all the students. There is a trickle-down effect in the education system that I believe also applies to businesses and government.

The Education Scene

It’s up to those at the top, as leaders, to set the tone for all. One superintendent I worked for  had an attitude of “me against my teachers.” She acted like a dictator. I was appalled to hear her speak to a group at the school system headquarters, including the press, about how her teachers had better obey her. She waved a ruler threateningly as she spoke. She obviously did not view her teachers as professionals and, believe me, her tone trickled down to the teachers in her schools and was reflected in their demoralized feelings.

I’ve been fortunate to have worked under some very good principals who showed understanding of the many layers in an educational institution.  

When I started teaching in 1967, my first two years were extremely rough with a challenging Brooklyn/Curtis Bay/Westport/Fairfield/Cherry Hill student population in Baltimore City. During the first two weeks of my teaching career, I went home in tears every day, questioning my desire and ability to be a teacher. I was trying my best to survive with a group of students who lived in a world foreign to my background. 

At that time, the school system required new teachers in their first two years to attend classes once a month at headquarters in Baltimore City. So, after struggling all day with five classes of 150 students total, at the end of the day, I got in my car and drove to my first class. I was a novice but even I could see that the people instructing my “new teacher” classes had no idea what they were doing. Had they ever stood in front of a classroom and taught? After an hour and a half of after-school class, I went home, prepared lesson plans, graded papers, maybe ate dinner, and collapsed into bed. 

The next month, I dragged myself to the next required meeting. At the end of an unproductive class, we were given a “homework” assignment. Something snapped in me then. Homework?! I was diligently doing my homework every night and every weekend…which was preparing lessons for my students, grading papers, communicating with parents and a thousand other things. I did not attend the third meeting or the fourth one and was prepared to be fired for not doing so. My main responsibility was to my students and not to bureaucrats who had no clue. 

Eventually word was sent to my principal that one of his teachers was not fulfilling her obligation to attend classes for new teachers. He questioned me about my absence and I explained to him that my students came first, that I was doing the best I could as their teacher and that the meetings were a waste of time which I could better spend for my students. Furthermore, I told him that I refused to attend any more meetings. He listened and nodded. I waited for a few days for notice that I had been fired. It never came. There was no more mention of the meetings. I survived my two-year tenure and continued to teach and receive good reviews. If he had not shown some wisdom in this matter, I probably would have left teaching before I finished the first year. This was a principal who set a tone of listening to his teachers and supporting action that was reasonable…a good role model for teachers who also need to listen to their students and to be reasonable.

At another school, a student was bullied by his peers and his math teacher. There was harassment of a student who appeared to be gay. He ran out of class in tears and sat outside in the rain where I found him and learned his story. I talked with him and convinced him to come inside and spend some time in the guidance office. Because running out of a classroom was an offense that would get a student suspended, I then went to the vice principal to explain the situation and ask him not to suspend the student. I closed the door and lowered my voice. The vice principal, hearing about the underlying gay issues, raised his voice so all the students sitting outside his office would hear him react. He even mentioned the student’s name. I left in disgust. Here is an example of an administrator who would encourage bullying because of his lack of empathy.

Teachers set a tone in their classrooms and, hopefully, this trickles down to their students. When I was teaching I discouraged certain language, tried to give everyone a chance, encouraged students and introduced empathy training in my lessons. I was not always successful but the goal was always the same.

The Political Scene

Now that Donald Trump is our President-elect, I recall what kind of example he set while campaigning: he denigrated the “other”—Muslims, the GLBT community, the disabled and women. That’s why I’m so upset. I know how things can come from the top and affect the atmosphere below. I cannot tolerate someone who disrespects women, mocks the disabled and wants to keep out those who are different from him. We have seen how his example has encouraged certain behavior in his followers, especially at his rallies.

After the election results, some of my Facebook friends wrote of incidents in school right after the election:

• A girl in Virginia was taunted by her classmates, “Trump, Trump, Trump, hope you’re ready to be deported.” A Latina-American girl cried at school when she no longer felt welcome.
• A classmate told my friend’s little girl that Hillary kills babies. This upset her. The child is also fearful that her grandparents will be deported. They are Iranian-Americans.
• A middle school video has made the rounds. It was taken in the school cafeteria and shows students chanting, “Build the wall.”

My hope is that Donald Trump will be capable of changing, that he can evolve into a human being more worthy of his new position. He will have lots of power, including the power to set a tone in our country where people will not feel intimidated, where they will not exist in a culture of “them versus us,” where adults do not teach children how to bully by example. If the tone of his acceptance speech carries into his office—the importance of working together— there might be hope because it is our leaders who set the tone of the culture we live in.

If he doesn’t, then it will certainly be up to us at the bottom to set the tone and send it upward. It will be up to us to continue to love and to love better. It will be up to us to make America love again.

You've Come a Long Way Since 1908

One of the first Virginia Slims ads targeting women with the slogan "You've come a long way baby!"

“Anything, everything, is possible.” Thomas Edison, 1908

In 1908, the last time the Cubs won the World Series, the 46^th star for Oklahoma was added to our flag, the Times Square ball was dropped in New York City for the first time and New York City passed an ordinance making it illegal for women to smoke in public. Women couldn’t vote either.

Now, 108 years later the Cubs finally won the World Series again, women can vote and a woman is running for the President of the United States. If Hillary Clinton becomes President, she will become the first woman to lead our country – and it’s about time. I've lived to see many changes over my lifetime of 72 years. One change that I've wished for before it's time for me to go is to see a woman in the White House. If this happens, Hillary's name will be added to a growing list of other females who are or have been heads of state in our world.

"The following is a list of female presidents, prime ministers, and other heads of state who are presently in power as of January 22, 2015. For several years now, the stable status quo has been around 20 female world leaders at any given time."

Source: http://www.jjmccullough.com/charts_rest_female-leaders.php      

When we elected our first black President, I celebrated with much of our country over that milestone. Next week, I will be following the election coverage closely and am looking forward to celebrating again. Stronger Together is absolutely true!        

More about 1908:

• “Take Me Out to the Gall Game” was registered for copyright.
• Henry Ford produced the first Model T which sold for $850.
• Only 14% of homes had bathtubs and 8% telephones.
• Mother’s Day was observed for the first time.
• Earthquake and resulting tsunami killed 70,000 to 100,000 in southern Italy and Sicily.
• Petroleum production started in the Middle East
• Federal spending was $0.66 billion
• Unemployment was 8%
• A first-class stamp cost $0.02.
• Gabriel Lippman of France received a Nobel Prize in Science for his method of reproducing colors by photography.
• Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority was established—the first Greek organization by and for black college women.
• Average life expectancy was around 47 years.
• There were only 144 miles of paved roads.
• The average wage was 22 cents per hour.
• More than 95 percent of all births were at home.
• Most women washed their hair once a month using Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
• Leading causes of death: peneumonia, influenza, tuberculosis, diarrhea, heart disease, stroke.
• The population of Las Vegas was 30.
• Crossword puzzles, canned beer and ice tea did not exist yet.
• Marijuana, heroin and morphine were over-the-counter  drugs available at drugstores.
• In the Us that year, there were around 230 murders (reported).
• The 612-foot tall Singer Building in NYC was the highest inhaited building in the world; it was followed a few months later by the 700-foot tall Metropolitan Life Building.
• Orville Wright set a new endurance flight record with a passenger—nine minutes at an altitude record of 250 feet. Then brother Wilbur flew for 91 minutes and 31 seconds for a new record of 61 miles.
• In 26 of the 46 states, marriage between blacks and whites was illegal.
• Kids worked in coal mines and steel mills.
• A “Gentlemen’s Agreement” between Japan and the US agreed to restrict Japanese emigration to the US.
• The first tunnel under the Hudson River opened.
• Frederick Cook claimed to have reached the North Pole. (He didn’t.)
• Wireless Radio Broadcasting was patented by Nathan Stubblefield.
• The first horror movie, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, premiered in Chicago.
• The first federal workmen’s compensation law was approved.
• The Lusitania crossed the Atlantic in a record four days and fifteen hours.
• The first Gideon Bible was put in a hotel room. 
• The Democratic National Convention, Denver 1908: Women Participate in Convention for the First Time (Though the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution giving women the right to vote was not ratified until 1920, women in Colorado – along with several other states in the West – had earned the right to vote before this time. Colorado gave women voting privileges in 1893; it was one of the earliest states to do so.)

http://americacomesalive.com/2008/08/17/a-first-for-women-1908/    

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/1908-7683115/?no-ist

http://www.jjmccullough.com/charts_rest_female-leaders.php             

Don't Flush

Flushing could influence the 2016 presidential election--at least, metaphorically.

I kind of like Gary Johnson. I think he’s honest. Indeed, he has an endearing honesty. He’s the sort of person I could be friends with. His “Feel the Johnson” hats are cute and he wants to legalize pot. I really think he’s a cool guy. But he is not smart enough to be President (When asked a question about Aleppo which is at the center of the civil war and refugee crisis in Syria, he said, “What’s Aleppo?”) Nor does he have a chance of winning. I’m afraid that those who want to register a protest or endorsement by voting for Johnson will help Trump the most.

And I feel very strongly that Trump should not win.

Even now, I’m embarrassed that someone like him has gotten as far as he has. He panders to the basest emotions of mainly a certain group of voters — non-college-educated white men who fear that Caucasians will no longer be in the demographic majority in the next 20 years. They probably won’t be but I say, so what?

No matter what you think of Hillary Clinton, she is smart, she has years of experience, she is a hard worker and she is much better than Trump on so many levels. Clinton and Trump are neck and neck. This boggles my mind! How could so many people be stupid enough to be conned by Trump? Because he is truly a con artist. It reminds me of the story about the Emperor’s New Clothes. His tactic has been that if he tells lies often enough, people will believe the lies. After all, if you’ve heard something so often, then it must be true.

“If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.” This quote (or some version of it) has been attributed to Donald Trump, Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and Adolf Hitler. I don’t think any of them are responsible for this quote, but their philosophies are evident in what they do say:

“The final key to the way I promote is bravado. I play to people’s fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular.

“I call it truthful hyperbole. It’s an innocent form of exaggeration — and a very effective form of promotion.” (Donald Trump in The Art of the Deal)

Although Trump’s quote is more about exaggeration, his campaign practices encompass both exaggeration and lies. It is unfashionable and unwise these days to compare someone or someone’s actions to Hitler, but I will go there because this quote from Hitler’s memoir reveals so much:

“All this was inspired by the principle — which is quite true in itself — that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying. These people know only too well how to use falsehood for the basest purposes.” (Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf)

Consider the five-year birther lie, the big lie believed by so many, the lie that sought to disenfranchise our first African American president — and then read the above paragraph again.

Although Trump has no control over his supporters, KKK David Duke’s support for Trump is frightening and they both use some of the same scare tactics. On his website, David Duke repeatedly writes about black on white rape: “That is more than 100 White women raped by Blacks every day.” Trump also uses the fear button frequently such as when he talks about illegal Mexicans, “They’re rapists.”

Yes, I believe Gary Johnson and Jill Stein are good people — much better than Donald Trump. But what happens if we vote for them? Even one or two percent of third-party voters could decide the outcome of the election. Who knows — maybe in another election I might vote for Johnson or Stein (who I agree with on many things). But it is in this election that is so close and the stakes so high that no one should throw away a vote on a third-party candidate. I am appalled that a bully demagogue actually has a chance to become one of the most powerful people in the world. This election is like no other election in my lifetime. And I’ve never felt as strong — or as fearful — as I am this year.

Unpopular as it is to say, I like Hillary Clinton. More important, I believe she is the most qualified candidate. This November I’ll be voting for Hillary Clinton.

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http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/donald-trump-and-the-ku-klux-klan-a-history

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/think-really-really-hard-before-voting-for-a-3rd-party_us_57962546e4b0b3e2427cb644

http://www.snopes.com/donald-trump-lie-truth/

http://davidduke.com (hate-filled site)

Implicit

Are we blind to our biases?

Implicit - imˈplisit/: implied though not plainly expressed, latent, underlying, unacknowledged, unexpressed

I was in my car at a red light intersection, the first in line, when I noticed an African American man crossing the street in front of my car. Instinctively, I clicked the lock button to lock all my doors. And I was dismayed at my automatic reaction. All my life, I’ve believed myself to be unbiased. I’ve always had many friends from diverse backgrounds. I played the piano at a black church when I attended Frostburg. Now, I felt terrible to think that I had some hidden bias.

Then a month after that incident, I was again sitting in my car at a red light intersection, the first in line. I noticed a man crossing the street in front of me. This time it was a Caucasian man. Again, with no thought, I automatically clicked the lock button to secure all my doors.

Both times, on some level, I felt threatened, but not by someone of a particular race. My feelings of vulnerability had to do with gender. As a lone female inside an unlocked car, I reacted to the presence of a male walking nearby.

I’ll have to admit that I felt relief, until recently when I was listening to a pod cast, The Mind is a Difference-Seeking Machine, an interview/conversation with Krista Tippett and social psychologist Mahzarin Banaji. She talked of blind spots regarding our biases and suggested an online test that people could take to check their bias blindness. With some trepidation, I went to the web site and began. It was an interesting test that worked with words and images, designed so participants could not easily tip the results.

My test results: Your data suggest no automatic preference between White people and Black people.

Of this, I am glad but I’m sure that I have some bias in other areas. If the people crossing the street had been women, I probably would not have rushed to lock the car doors. However, I wonder what else might tip my balance.

You can take the test here: https://implicit.harvard.edu

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https://onbeing.org/programs/mahzarin-banaji-the-mind-is-a-difference-seeking-machine-aug2018/

  

http://spottheblindspot.com/the-book/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/blindspot-hidden-biases-of-good-people-by-mahzarin-r-banaji-and-anthony-g-greenwald/2013/02/08/4c42d6b8-6a1b-11e2-ada3-d86a4806d5ee_story.html

On Sharing

Someone suggested recently that I read Dave Egger’s novel, The Circle. I opened my iPad app where I can borrow books from my library and within a minute I had downloaded the borrowed book. The story is set in the not too distant future and its premise is what if—what if we consider social media today and imagine a logical extension for its path. This book does just that.

Having lived for nearly 72 years, I find it interesting to compare the past to the present and to imagine what lies ahead. Technology, for better or worse, has changed how we do things as well as our expectations. And social media leads these changes.

Social Media Yesterday

When I was growing up in the 40’s and 50’s, social media consisted of basic, low-tech possibilities. We had a three channel TV with rabbit ears, snail mail, dial-up limited call number phone and the families in our neighborhood. We were limited with our talk time on the phone since we shared the same number with the neighbor across the alley. With snail mail, I waited several weeks to receive a reply from my Japanese pen pal. If I wanted a library book, I had to leave my house, go to the library, and use a card catalog to look up its location. The librarian hand wrote the due date on a form pasted inside the book’s cover. Music was played on vinyls, 78 rpm, 33 rpm and then 45’s. To get answers to my questions, I could ask my parents or open our family encyclopedia or research at the library. It usually took a while to find answers. In those days, if you wanted to send a message fast, you sent a telegram which involved Morse code and going through the post office. You paid by the word. Perhaps this is similar to modern-day Twitter’s character limit.  If I wanted to hang out with my friends, I knocked on their door and we hung out on our porches or at church if there was a youth event going on there.

Social Media Now

Today I embrace how easy it is to communicate with friends and find quick answers to my questions. I no longer need to keep a dictionary on my bookshelf because I can more quickly look up words on line. And I can enlarge the definition on my screen rather than looking for a magnifier to read the small print in the dictionary. Speaking of small print, I never use a phone book any more either because there are better and faster ways of finding contact information. I like the ability to use my iPhone to navigate when traveling and to let friends know if a traffic jam will make me late for our lunch together. Digital books help with house clutter and free up space in my environment. If while I’m reading on my iPad, I come across a word I don’t know, merely pressing my finger down on the word will call up the definition. I am a septuagenarian who loves the convenience and speed of today’s technology but…

Instant gratification

We now have instant access to a phone, email and social media but the downside is that we are becoming less patient and more impulsive. The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project a study about the dangers of hyper-connected lives on people under the age of 35: “Negative effects include a need for instant gratification and loss of patience.” Not only does this expectation of instant gratification rob us of the beauty of subtlety and deny would-be pleasures, but it can also be dangerous. I experienced this danger in road rage when a young driver, impatiently waiting in a line of five cars waiting to pull out into rush-our traffic, suddenly and violently screeched into the oncoming lane and pulled into the intersection into on-coming cars. Lucky that other cars stopped as that driver was venting.

In classrooms today, teachers are challenged with student use of cell phones, students who constantly text because they refuse to delay a conversation while in the classroom. Their distraction pulls them away in the classroom as well as when they are hanging out with friends. Educators are teaching students who have grown up expecting instant gratification. Students expect this in the learning process too, as if the push of a send button might send the new knowledge into their brains. As a lifelong learner, I wish this were true but I understand the turtle pace that can be part of learning. It is sometimes tedious, sometimes painfully frustrating, but the reward at the other end is great. Today when students encounter learning that does not satisfy their instant gratification craving, their disappointment often results in giving up.

Communication Today

When the compact flip cell phone was becoming popular, my immediate reaction was that I didn’t want one. I did not want people having immediate access to me. I did not always want to be connected. Of course, I could always not answer my phone, but there was the nagging ring or buzz. I have an iPhone today and find useful for good immediate gratification: I’m in a traffic jam and will be late for dinner; my car broke down; what did you want me to pick up at the store; Google tells me those weird things in the fruit section are cherimoyas and that I should not eat the seeds but the rest is delicious…maybe I’ll buy one.

Smart phone on the fly is useful but it has invaded our time and its ubiquitous presence can be destructive and even ominous. To use some apps, you must give location permission. You can use Find My Friends to locate where family and friends are at any moment. Good for parents, bad for teens who don’t want their parents knowing where they are.

People expect us to be at their beck and call. Yesterday I was chastised twice online for not responding or posting fast enough. Yes, I am guilty—by choice. One person told me that I was wrong to post on Facebook something so late into a conversation that had begun two hours before my post. I reminded him that I do not live on Facebook. A young person sent me a chat message that he expected me to respond to immediately. Two days later, when I had not responded to the “hi” message, he told me that if I didn’t want to talk with him, I should unfriend him. I tried to explain that I have a life and that I respond to chat messages in my own time. (I also discovered Facebook was open constantly and that I had chat turned on all the time so it appeared that I was online 24/7.)

Sharing

These days, sharing is the vibe. As a child, I learned that sharing is good but today it has become insidious. There is Pinterest, Google, Twitter, Linked-In, Instagram, Facebook and much, much more. Facebook alone tells me in a few minutes that:  Jean Howard mentioned me, Sam Wilson updated his status, four of my friends have birthdays, someone has responded to my post, three people have shared my post, nine people want to be my friend, seventeen people want me to like a page, three more want me to follow them, eleven people have sent FB messages, four people want me to take a survey and then share with others, etc. It is good to be connected but too much of anything can be bad. If I’m connected to my nearly 700 Facebook friends all day, then I am swallowed, my remaining life is swallowed by the stranglehold of connecting and sharing.

Photographer Stephen Wilkes puts it succinctly: The act of sharing has become more important than the experience itself.

A conversation 16 years ago about what we lose with technology:
http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2016/07/subtle-loss.html

More reading:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/style/2013/02/01/the-growing-culture-impatience-where-instant-gratification-makes-crave-more-instant-gratification/q8tWDNGeJB2mm45fQxtTQP/story.html

http://www.bucknell.edu/communications/bucknell-magazine/instant-gratification-and-its-dark-side.html