Technology & Social Media Meltdown

So, here we go…this blog is for all ages, races, genders, sizes and shapes…pretty much everybody.  We are getting ready to talk technology… the devices that we use every day.  Desktop, laptop, tablet, and smartphone are our daily communication tools.  What was once restricted to governmental controlled institutions, research and education, became public in the mid-1990’s, and that is, the World Wide Web.  That is, the internet.  While ‘the web,’ has many advantages, as with any tool that can effectively reach the masses within seconds, good judgment becomes a key component to that toolbox.  Even though many 6 year olds can traverse these devises with relative ease, what is missing is the discernment and life experience to be aware of the ‘risk’ territories where one may venture.

Email has become a blessing and a curse.  How many email accounts do you have?  Texting is as common, or more so, than talking, on our smartphones.   Driving while texting, though?

According to one study, using a cell phone while driving can be just as dangerous as driving while intoxicated, causing drivers to miss traffic signals and react more slowly to driving conditions. Frighteningly, the NHTSA estimates that more than 100 million U.S. drivers use their cell phone while driving and about 8% of drivers on the roadway at any given daylight moment are either conversing or texting on their cell phone.

As Android, and iEverything compete for dollars, market, and attention, ‘Apps’ for everything imaginable have emerged.  If you can think it, there is probably an app for it.

Want to know what language is being spoken online and texting?  Check out; netlingo.com for their ‘largest list’ of text and chat acronyms.  Should be for ‘mature audiences,’ but remember, it’s the internet.

Social media…what began with sites like Xanga and MySpace, exploded with the onset of Facebook.  Twitter, soon followed, and now, a plethora of ways to connect with others; Vine, Snapchat (think those photos really disappear?), Instagram, and others expand the manner in which, particularly, youth (a broad term) communicate.  Cyber bullying is now a term familiar to those who have sons and daughters in school, and painfully destructive to those who have been victimized.

An entertaining and informative video might be a good place to go, now, after reading this.

Find it: emediaworks.net promoting, Oneface.me   to bring awareness of the cyber bullying problem and, what one can do.

And just remember, if ever in doubt?………Google it!

~Author: Mr. David Wiley, MS, LPC for Miller Counseling Services, PC