h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

An excellent post as usual 2-legs

Some of it tongue in cheek... but really not that* much of it I'm always torn in two by some things like this... partly I despise the reduction in peoples social abilities and so-called common sense, and get wriled to the point of exasberation, by, E.G., being out for an evening in the pub, with someone who is far more interested than TXTing people who arn't in the pub than on just enjoying being out and in the pub, and, particularly, paying some bluddy attention to me, and any other people, who are, afterallall, actually there, in teh pub with them... Whilst, of course, on the other hand, finding such technology so useful, and liking to be able to use it as and when it is appropiate.... its quite reassuring to sit on the train, travelling along, and go onto my mobile and check the arrivals board for the station I'm heading too, to find out if my train is on schedule or not Mind, again If I'm on the train with my mobile turned on, it'll be on scilent... Well, I guess its yet another case of the technology, or science, not being bad in itself, but the way in which its used potentially haveing more delaterious than benifical consequences

hmmm... or, an idiot in charge of a mobile phone is still an idiot...

The empathy and embarrassment genes seem to missing from young 'uns this generation. If my mobile goes off in a public place which is otherwise quiet, I'm quite mortified and will usually not even take the call till I'm somewhere noisier or more private.

But maybe that's because I didn't grow up with mobiles. To those who played with mummy's old phone in the pram, perhaps the concept of their being inappropriate times to use them seem odd. Hell I've read stories of kids texting status updates at relatives funerals . 'That's him in the ground now. Sad. TTFN'

Yeah, but that's a logical development of these things. I have wholly embraced social media, but don't need to be on it 24/7, but that's because I haven't grown up with it... to me it's a useful novelty, not a means of running my life. To the teenager and their friends Tweeting that the person has been buried and they're sad about it is probably very poignant.

At one time the idea of a funeral being a celebration of someone's life would have been *unthinkable* but now it's quite commonplace.

Things change, sometimes quite quickly. Humankind is remarkably blinkered about this, it is assumed that just because we know a certain thin to be a certain way it has been that way forever and will be that way forever. Any change, even if it's to a state originally intended, is seen as negative (true story: there were protests when English Heretics wanted to remove some trees from a garden that had originally had a panoramic view of London. The reason being that the trees had 'always been there' and were a 'feature of the gardens' even though they hadn't and weren't)

We should embrace change rather than comdemning it. I'm no beleiver in free wi-fi for all being a basic human right and see no point in sticking my nose in the Twitterverse every hour not spent eating or working but I don't think that people using social media all the time should be taken as a degridation of society or manners.

exactly.

*likes*

RT (previous post)

Being a guy, I have never and will never have the experience of motherhood. I recall lots of articles and blog postings from mothers who are going out of their minds from 24/7 caring for their children. They aren't necessarily bad mothers for feeling this way. I doubt that men would feel differently in the same situation, though I can't be sure [since, as I aleady pointed out, I'm a guy].

What does one really know about the mothers that one sees texting or chatting on phones in public? Maybe that was the *only* time when they were inattentive to their kids. Three or four generations back, when women would routinely have six to twelve children, the older children would be trained to look after the younger ones so as to help mother. I've known women who had twelve children. Granted, they were in their late nineties, but they were hardly stressed out. if anything, they were as relaxed and positive about life as anyone could be.

The so-called nuclear family may not be all that natural. Extended families make sense in much of the world.

>>We should embrace change rather than comdemning it.<<

Mr D. I agree, to an extent, but not all change is for the good of the , environment or mankind. And I feel that mobiles, to a large degree, are one such change.

An example. A is standing at the stop, waiting for a obviously. Chatting on the phone. When the arrives A pushes onto the ahead of other passengers. Still chatting. Fumbles in bag for pass, holding up the . Still chatting. Finds pass, only to find there are insufficient funds. Still chatting. Searches bag for money to buy ticket. Still chatting. Holds hand out for change, impatiently flapping about. Still chatting. Eventually gets tickets and heads to seat. And you've guessed it. Still chatting.

At no point did A make eye contact, or apologise for the delay or for being totally inept and disorganised, just getting annoyed at the driver for not handing over the change quickly.

Is this good social interaction. And the can be changed for the Supermarket checkout, library, reception or any other area where a Service is being provided. Does this infer that the mobile user is a) believing the person providing the service is below them, so they don't need to acknowledge them, or b) are too ignorant to treat that person with respect.

When I've been in that situation I'd stop serving and wait until the conversation / texting had finished, invariably with the person flapping their free hand in the direction of the goods, I guess indicating 'Get on with it'. Their usual response would be along the lines of 'What are you waiting for?' or some such. My response would be ' I didn't know if you were purchasing or returning the items',.



MMF

That's not actually that good an example though... I've seen plenty of people do exactly the same thing without having their mobile out at all. Some people are just crap.

Also, and a bit , the planet has nothing to do with it. The planet will survive whatever we throw at it, it's been through much worse after all. I'll let you have the environment, because of rare earth metals and stuff... but again not sure about the mankind thing either. This still does not represent the wholesale degredation of mankind... going backwards through history the internet, the television, free state education and moveable type all meant the degredation of mankind and, well, we're still here aren't we?

Remember 'racist rant on tube' lady, grasping her kid whilst going out of control? She looked drunk to me, and her conduct wasn't good for the kid. It's still alcohol.

On my way home I've just seen someone walk right into the side of a bus because she was playing with her phone. Big, white stationary bus and she walked right into it.

It was pretty funny.