Hi Everyone,
Digital addictions are becoming more common. And not everyone is happy about. Some of those people want to take things into their own hands. This is what I mean.
On Monday January 13, 2014 a couple was in a movie theatre. The husband was texting their babysitter during the previews. The man behind them wasn’t happy about it. Words were exchanged. Someone threw popcorn at them in an effort to stop them. It didn’t work. There was a struggle, verbal at first then it got physical. The man who formerly sat behind them, a retired police officer, pulled out his gun and shot the man. He died.
Now you may have already heard or read about the above incident. Perhaps your thoughts of, “That’s crazy! What is wrong with the world?” were similar to mine.
You know I think that everyone wants to have a good time when they are out. I know I do. But here’s the rub. There are so many people who literally cannot go 5 minutes without looking at their cell phones or looking at a screen of some kind. Unfortunately that leaves a negative impression, a feeling of, “Here we go again! I’m just out doing my thing, and this guy is going to be playing on his cell phone the whole time!” Whether or not that is true will be determined by how long and how often someone decides to have some face to screen time.
Then there are the stories that people hear on the news. Recently a young woman was so engaged with her device that she literally walked off a pier and had to be rescued by a team of people. I am serious. I think it was in Australia and that she was rescued by the coast guard. I don’t remember if she had to pay for being rescued, but I would have made her.
Then last night on the news, right after they reported on the story of the man being shot in the movie theatre, they had a clip of a car. The driver was doing something with a device, drove straight for 3 seconds, meandered into the other lane of oncoming traffic, then back again into his lane, and then finally drove into a tree or light post. The car flipped over and he crawled out of a window unscathed. Somehow this was all caught on tape. Try explaining that one to the insurance company. Personally, I wouldn’t put in an insurance claim. I’d be too embarrassed.
The other day as I was crossing the street I saw someone looking at their device as they walked into oncoming traffic. They were with their daughter. She’s less than ten. Good thing nothing happened to either of them.
So the question of the day is this; is your life and the life of the people you care about worth looking at a screen for? If there is a true emergency and you aren’t doing anything to jeopardize your life and the life of others, than I would say yes, look at your screen. First one would have to define emergency though. But if people don’t stop staring at their screens, they may just have an emergency whether they wanted one or not.
I don’t think the man who was texting the babysitter thought he would be shot dead by a 71 year old retired police officer while sitting in the movie theatre. Everyone wants to have a good time. Not everyone is big on patience. Some people are a shallow breathe away from insanity and they will let you know it. The retired cop did.
My advice is this. If you can get all of whatever you need to get done on a device before you go into a public space that is meant to be quiet like a movie theatre, library do it. When you are in a public space, pay attention to your surroundings and the people around you. Your life may depend on it. And if you don’t and think you own the world, here’s a head’s up, you don’t! And if something happens to you because you’re too big for your britches, maybe you’ll learn your lesson. It was your own damn fault. Don’t complain and don’t explain.
Here is a link that relates to this blog,
http://arebelsrant.com/how-is-your-digital-addiction-affecting-you/ (It has a few links)
Thank you for reading, A. Rebel’s Rant! ;D
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