The Loss of Polite Society
In a time long ago, people would walk the streets of their towns and cities, and greet each other with a tip of the hat, or warm greeting wishing each other a good day. Neighbors would pitch in and help each other with watching children, tending crops, and rally together to combat any emergency situation. Proper manners were practiced by all members of society, and respect was routinely shown for the generations that came before. And, shockingly at night, people would have conversations with each other, and their children.
Today we shuffle through life as technology zombies, so reliant on our phones for staying connected that we don’t even notice the people we are passing by, and thus cannot connect with in a human fashion. We use technology as an excuse, burying our faces in our phones to purposely avoid human contact. In trying to stay connected to our news feed, social media, and text mates, we have succeeded in staying disconnected from the world. And, it starts at an early age, as today’s toddlers are pacified with tablets and phones, and thus develop the attention spans of mayflies.
We take our phones with us everywhere even when taking out the garbage, or utilizing the washroom. But, we are exposing ourselves, and those around us, to major danger when we bring our phones into our automobiles, and fail to disconnect. How many times have you looked over at someone next to you at a traffic light, and saw they were on their phone? That is of course assuming you looked over in the first place and weren’t staring at your own phone! How many times have you had to honk to get the person in front of you to recognize that the light had changed from red to green? The reality is that if you are looking at your phone, you are not paying attention to the road. Texting and driving can be an all too fatal way to stay connected with your social contacts. Trying to finish and send an email while driving might even be worse. Texting and email drivers are distracted drivers. It only takes a second to cross over the yellow line, catch the edge of the road, or fail to see that traffic has stopped in front of you. Put down your phone while driving, because your life literally may depend on it!
So, if all things tend to run in cycles, then perhaps we will go back to a time when people actually talked to one another. Can you imagine your life without social media, texting, and streaming? What would that even be like? Oh, yeah, it would be like the good old days, and maybe then people would treat each other like people, and that can never be a bad thing!
Tippens & Zurosky represents people injured on the job and in automobile accidents in North Carolina and South Carolina. Call us toll-free at 877-372-3580, or at 704-343-0018, for a free consultation. Let us help you!
