(originally published Aug. 19, 2009)

 

"Technology is the Evil Empire, Bent On Destroying Family Intimacy!"  That's the headline I'd like to put on this post, but guns don't shoot people - people shoot people - so technology is not destroying families. People are destroying their own families.

The technology I'm talking about is texting, video gaming, Facebook, email, Twitter, and more.  Remember when the only complaint about lack of communication in families was when family members were all in separate rooms watching different television programs?  Well, now, family members can all be in the same room, totally ignoring each other for the sake of fake friends and useless information, instead of for family conversations.  Some family members even text each other from different parts of the same home, rather than walk the 15 feet, hug, and talk to each other.  

I remember the not-so-recent TV ads that promoted a family eating dinner together.  Now, if you showed an ad with a family at the dinner table, there'd have to be a sign nearby that said "No Wireless Zone."  I wonder what depth of interaction is being missed because one is getting superficial "quickies" from texting or emailing or Facebooking? On the other hand, I already know that we're less able to engage in reasoned, significant discourse and profound intimacies these days, because, from the age of 4 or 5, we're geared toward the superficial, faceless exchange of comments on each other's web pages.

Parents, you must get yourselves into gear and limit the amount of time per day donated to the wireless world outside of work.  Otherwise, over time, there'll be no need for lips and vocal cords and eye contact, and we'll evolve into "thumbs only" beings who just peck away with a false sense of actually participating in the real world.