To the Editor,
A couple of weeks ago I was heading into town for something and was driving along County Road 10. I happened to be following a school bus that was stopping quite frequently to pick up young people, but they weren’t older young people. They were picking up the little people, those with knapsacks almost as big as they are. Maybe first or second grade, all excited, running across the road to meet with their newer found friends. These little people not yet contaminated by social media, but perhaps already exposed to iPads and cellphones long before their little minds are fully developed. That is quite detrimental to their future according to many doctors.
Not being a parent, I can understand how convenient it is as a babysitter or electric pacifier allowing you to do other chores around the house. I just worry about what it’s going to do to their future and how they will react to certain situations that might arise.
The addiction to cell phone use is exactly the same as cigarette addiction, so it’s kind of like putting a cigarette in the mouth of a five-year-old. The high-tech companies love it, knowing they will have that child as a customer for the rest of his or her life, but that’s what’s changed, all you people aren’t customers anymore. You’re the product, controlled and conditioned every second of every day for the rest of your life, and it’s causing you to die a little the longer you’re exposed. Not really feeling anything anymore, instead, going through the motions of feeling emotions, because machines feel nothing.
In the United States there are more guns than people, which is why there are mass shootings every day.
On this planet, there are now more cell phones than people, and believe it or not, there is a dark side to everyone and everything like a tree and a shadow. The dark side is widespread and becoming more powerful and prevalent every day. The bad people in this world are becoming very good at what they do and protecting all your information will become harder and harder down the road.
As for relationships, there is now a new player involved. It’s the first thing your partner looks at in the morning and the last thing they see at night, and it ain’t you. Your partner’s new friend is always there for them, a confidant, thanks to AI, even a lover they can’t live without.
If you spend an average of seven hours a day in front of a screen, at the end of your life you will have spent 10.4 years staring at a screen.
The majority of people don’t want to get married anymore, there’s just too many pitfalls. They prefer a disposable relationship or an expiry date from time to time. No commitment, no problems.
Wow, what a world. Good luck and hang in there.
Andy Perreault, Vankleek Hill
