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FAMILY COLUMNIST WARNS OF 'ELECTRONIC APOCALYPSE' from Online Generation of Electronics Addicted Youth


KWARX

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From:
THE CONSCIOUS REPORTER

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FULL TITLE:
Family columnist warns of ‘electronic apocalypse’ from online generation of electronics-addicted youth

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Subtitle:
The physical apparatus we use to process the world is being re-shaped, and if we don’t preserve what we once had, our very sense of being will shift permanently and irreversibly. The content of our digital lives is no longer an appendage to life — it is reaching a point where it is life.

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http://consciousreporter.com/sci-tech/family-columnist-warns-electronic-apocalypse-online-generation-electronics-addicted-youth/
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[align=center]HOW DID U FEEL WHEN U MISPLACED YOUR PHONE?[/align]
[align=center] 73% PANICKED; 14% DESPERATE; 7% SICK; 6% RELIEVED[/align]
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Are we really alive and free, interacting face to face? Where has the listening ear gone? Is all connection lost?
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. . .
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We are losing empathy {emphases included in original}

Researcher Tim Lott longs for the days of old, describing the ugly reality that 21st century humanity is beginning to create. He wrote, “The physical apparatus we use to process the world is being re-shaped, and if we don’t preserve what we once had, our very sense of being will shift permanently and irreversibly. The content of our digital lives is no longer an appendage to life — it is reaching a point where it is life, in the sense that the imagination can conceive of nothing else.”
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In researching the problem, he found some startling statistics. For one, the average teenager now manages 4,000 text messages a month. Five years ago, the Kaiser Family Foundation found that adolescents from 8 to 18 years of age were spending seven hours a day on handheld devices and phones. Tim also made a startling connection in his research. In a compilation of 72 studies, he found that the current online generation had 40 percent lower levels of empathy than previous generations. {red added}
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“Human relationships now seem to be marked with what resembles a series of nervous tics — phone tics, PC tics, tablet tics,” wrote Lott.
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I agree.
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I've long pondered what IS the attraction of the texting etc. ???
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The only conclusions I've come up with so far are:
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1. IMMEDIACY. It gives the illusion--VERY desperately sought by seriously RAD afflicted folks--THAT THEY MATTER, HAVE SIGNIFICANCE, ARE WORTH breathing air and taking up space. Immediacy, immediate feedback, responses substitute for proof that they are worth something.
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2. It's a compromise between the desperate need for human contact and the fear of the risks of human contact. At least with a cell phone, one can hang-up; not respond to the text; wait. There's a greater sense of:
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3. !!!!!CONTROL!!!!! . . . and for RAD afflicted serious !!!!!CONTROL!!!!! FREAKS . . . CONTROL can be close to everything. They are seriously insecure in a list of ways--therefore they desperately try and !!!!!CONTROL!!!!! everyone and everything around them in order to diminish the very scary, anxiety ridden feeling of vulnerability, insecurity, the risk of losing out, disintegrating, being nothing, having nothing, having no one.
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4. It gives the ILLUSION of intimacy, contact, connection, being "in-tight" with someone without having to pay the price of authentic risk that comes with authentic intimacy, contact, connection. i.e.
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A) There is a semblance of dialogue . . . There's no eye contact, no touch . . . but words are exchanged with SOME emotional content getting across successfully--though likely somewhat distorted by the medium.
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B) There's a semblance of importance in the other person's life--they bother to text, answer their cell, etc. They may do that with a dozen people but at least the other party feels good being included in the dozen.
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C) There's a semblance of getting somewhere, transacting business in the relationship. The text dialogue goes somewhat from "A" to "B" in content. The content may be shallow, hot air, fluff, lies, blather, deception etc. but at least it gives the ILLUSION of something happening. For folks who are far from comfortable in their own skin and who are terrified of being alone or "bored," that ILLUSION of something happening can be the difference between doing OK and depression or a melt-down.
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5. There's a feeling of being hip, with it, cool, modern, at least somewhat tech savy. Again, a boost to the self-esteem of the RAD afflicted masses.
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6. I've long pondered why men seem to be so much more talkative on cell phones than in person. I think one reason is that they can refuse to answer, turn it off, end the call. They feel more in control and less threatened by the females who are so much more gifted verbally and communicatively--particularly emotionally. So, there's a buffer sense of safety with the phone as a buffer between the two persons while giving the illusion of significant contact, interpersonally 'touching' in a sense.
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7. I think some folks--maybe women more--like the record of the interchange that's saved when texting. All the better to pull the man up short for not living up to his text. LOL. Some men are likely similar on such scores.
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There's probably more than the above going on but that's it for now.
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Cheers.
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