Ten years ago the fright was on as we were crossing over into a new Century. Y2K became a household term, and businesses spent an inordinate amount of money taking inventory of their electronic inventory, and tagging everything that had a plug. Well we all know how that turned out…
Technology has vaulted our intelligence and accessibility of information to never seen before heights. YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter (among others) provide instantaneous gratification on current events, trends, tragedies, and infamy. Everything is changing faster than our generation is able to understand the consequences, both intended and unintended. Add to this, we've embraced the new 'greening' of our environment, our homes, work, and any other area where environmental change could be implemented, have seen significant impact of change.
The good news is that we've been given the resources to reach the most distant remote areas of the World. We've been able to contact with family members with relative (no pun intended) ease. I know I have certainly taken advantage of this one, as I have amassed 2,230 names of family members stretching across the globe so far. And, I have also been able to connect with them either electronically or through the old-fashioned phone-line.
We could also say that having the latest news stories at our disposal has empowered us to become more interested in the world in which we live. Unfortunately, this also allows for embellishment and sensationalism, as we were able to witness with the 'balloon boy' incident. That story alone demonstrated how vulnerable and gullible we can be when exposed to too much information too quickly. We also were able to immediately share the immediacy of Michael Jackson's death, and feel that we were actually in attendance at his funeral.
Now as we enter the second decade of the 21st Century, news of constantly changing 'smart' phones, computers, and electronic devices continue to arrive in my News Reader, telling me that we've not quite hit our learning potential on how far we can go with the technology available to us today. Without appearing to be a worry-wart, I have to wonder when the other foot is going to drop, signaling the downside of our technological progress. Small examples of 'unintended' consequences have started to creep out, none being tremendously harmful…yet. Because we've yet to go through a generational experience of this technological period, there has yet to be a true measure of our new hi-tech era. We measure each generation through a culmination of years, and currently we are in the supposed Information Age until 2025…although given the speed in which we've progressed, I wonder if we'll hit our target sooner.
Regardless of all we've done, and what we're about to do (technologically speaking), one can only hope that we don't lose our faith in faith, and our 'personability' in being personable. So to that, we should take a moment and write a letter…that is…write with a pen a paper, not print…and mail that letter to a friend or family member. I know it might be a bit nostalgic and maybe a bit immature…yet we need to take a break from the daily intake of change and settle in for a dose of time. Welcome to 2010.
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