Social Media Madness

SOCIAL MEDIA MADNESS
An Article written by Featured Columnist, Self-Professed Lingovationist, Hyper-Hyphenationist and Proponent of Inappropriate Conduct, Douglas Castle (http://aboutDouglasCastle.blogspot.com) for The National Networker RSS Feed and Daily Email. This article is reprinted with the express  permission of the author, who seldom denies himself permission to reprint the things which he has already published.

Dear Readers (and others who are having this brief article read to them by caring friends and family members, or by interrogators with a unique approach to torture):


What an amazing paradox. We now do more broadcasting and receiving of information than ever before, but our actual interpersonal communications, the ones that forge and strengthen the bonds of trust, are suffering. We have become so preoccupied with incoming messages and our growing obligations to respond to them, that the actual time involved in this social media/email protocol is physically and emotionally wearing us out. additionally, the actual quality of the information transmitted is deteriorating. The situation is rather like playing a high-speed game of catch with a cow pie -- indeed something is zooming back and forth, but its quality (of a sort) is deteriorating with every toss. The picture which you are about to see might not be suitable for youngsters, the elderly, people with heart conditions, diabetics, individuals with seizure disorders, or suffering from blindness:

There are people out there (and you know who you are) who are users of all of the above platforms and more. some of them have in excess of 10 separate email addresses, not including the aliases which they utilize when they are alone at home and busily surfing the web in search of the perfect adult relationship, or at least a provocatively posed, jaded model to have a "pretend" relationship with...I cannot fathom how many hours per day these people are sending and receiving signals for which they will recive no substantive benefit. When you are constantly distracted, it interferes with your creative processes and with your ability to more forward in a straight direction. I actually witnessed a woman, busily engaged in texting or emailing from her hand-held device walk into a shopping cart while exiting a local bakery (they have great tiramisu and eclairs!).

At a recent conference of proctologists, the participants were asked to turn off all of their electronic devices out of respect for the presenter. One of the attendees tried to sneak in a quick text message to his daughter during the tutorial. I cannot tell you (as I wasn't there) the events that immediately ensued, but suffice it to say that the offender was seen limping slowly down the hall, with a muffled ringing emanating from his otherwise neatly-creased trousers. Here's something that I would suggest you try. Do it for Douglas:

Take a break from the madness, and (for experimental purposes) call a friend on the telephone. Visit someone. Turn off your PDA, cellphone, Blackberry, iPhone and Wonkafone for just 20 minutes and quietly let your mind go where it chooses while you sit  on a bench or in an empty room. It is a discipline that may well be worth the effort. You may just recapture a sense of who you really are and why you are doing what you are doing. You might realize how much you miss the luxury of being alone with your thoughts.

I'd continue, but somebody's trying to reach me on Skype.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

p.s Links? I have some --
http://twitlik.com/DC1
http://twitlik.com/Braintenance1
http://twitlik.com/HM1
http://twitlik.com/IEP1
http://twitlik.com/Internationalist
http://twitlik.com/GlobalFuturist
http://twitlik.com/TC
http://twitlik.com/TNNWNewsletter

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