Smiling At Neighbors

SOCIAL MEDIA SEEMS LIKE a morass to me, a great sludge pond of mediocre mass culture But hey, that's just me. In truth, I can't think of a single, solitary reason why the computers and I phones and all that is a bad thing. What can possibly be negative about enhancing communication, by whatever means possible? (I might be surprised). To have a smart phone in your pocket is to live in a world of many wonders. Nevertheless, I don't want to pay a hundred bucks a month for the privilege of walking into telephone poles. There is absolutely nothing wrong with living in a world where everyone in public places is staring at a tiny screen all the time; I simply don't want to stare at one that often, or for that long. Social media has the potential to enable great goodness, and it already does, notwithstanding the fact that the level of discourse throughout the vast realm of social media seems generally to be a bit, how shall we say it - juvenile? But if all the mature, intelligent folks jump right in and participate, the level of discourse could go up in a flash. Don't hold your breath. If tweets, texts, and Facebook friends lists are the way people wish to communicate, well, at least they're communicating. Meanwhile, participation in old fashioned community activities such as brick and mortar church, parent Teacher Organization, Bowling Leagues, and youth sports is declining ("Bowling Alone", by Robert Putnam, Harvard), and a study done by Harvard some years ago indicated that on average, Americans do not have as many friends now as they did a generation or two ago. "Friends" was defined as face to face friends, not fantasy Facebook friends. Sometimes, maybe, it doesn't do any harm to step out of the air conditioned house, onto the front porch, without any electronic gadgets in pocket, and maybe even walk down the street a bit, smiling at neighbors.