Save precious time typing-LOL

http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/plugged-in/feel-free-to-lol-at-this-new-keyboard/1389626

Apparently they have come out with a keyboard that has chat shortcuts like LOL, TTYL, and others with their own buttons, so now you will save precious milliseconds by only hitting one key instead of three or four. Amazing the new things they're coming out with these days. Are acronyms not time saving enough? I think it is highly ironic that a company feels it needs to save time for typists, when the conversations in which one would be using chat acronyms are probably wastes of time themselves. While Facebook and chatting are fun, I am hardly worried about efficiency when I am using them. ROFL. It's really to bad I don't have that keyboard. By now, I could have typed 10 fewer characters in this post using it. TTYL! (Make that 13)

Television: Musings on the Plane

Right now I'm on the plane to Seattle, with nothing to do… I plan to write a post and publish it when I am able to connect to the internet. I finished my Psychology review and cannot get up to ask my mom for a book or magazine because the seatbelt light is on--turbulence I think, although I haven't felt much. On the way to the airport, Stuart didn't have anything to do, and I had just finished reading "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" in my book of the top 500 poems, so I read him three Lewis Caroll poems, "The Jabberwocky," "The Walrus and the Carpenter," and "You are Old, Father William" and then had him read "The Owl and the Pussycat" by Edward Lear, and "The Raven" by Poe. I felt like I should help him become a bit more cultured. :)

In psych right now we're learning about learning, and I just finished reading about observational learning, so I'm going to talk a little about the disadvantages of television, NOT because I am a TV hater or condemn those who watch it, but because I think it is interesting. In Freakonomics, there was a study done about TV and violence, and it compared the violence rates of different cities as they were introduced to television. When I get home (Tuesday) I'll revise this post to explain all the controls that were in place, because I don't have Freakonomics with me. Essentially, the study compared the crime rate as television was introduced to different cities and found that in each city there was an increase in crime once the invention of the television became popular there. Those of you familiar with Bandura's Bobo doll experiment will know that observational learning could have contributed to some of this, but Freakonomics hypothesizes that perhaps (because TV shows when television was first introduced were not very violent) this occurred because children were spending time in front of the TV instead of studying, reading, or interacting socially--this could have stunted slightly their intellectual growth and made them more likely to commit crime. No one really knows why this happened, but it is an interesting little correlational study :D

I haven't written another poem yet, but I'll give you one, by one of the funniest British authors ever.

Television

Roald Dahl

The most important thing we've learned,

So far as children are concerned,

Is never, NEVER, NEVER let

Them near your television set --

Or better still, just don't install

The idiotic thing at all.

In almost every house we've been,

We've watched them gaping at the screen.

They loll and slop and lounge about,

And stare until their eyes pop out.

(Last week in someone's place we saw

A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)

They sit and stare and stare and sit

Until they're hypnotised by it,

Until they're absolutely drunk

With all that shocking ghastly junk.

Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,

They don't climb out the window sill,

They never fight or kick or punch,

They leave you free to cook the lunch

And wash the dishes in the sink --

But did you ever stop to think,

To wonder just exactly what

This does to your beloved tot?

IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD!

IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!

IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!

IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND

HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND

A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!

HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!

HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!

HE CANNOT THINK -- HE ONLY SEES!

'All right!' you'll cry. 'All right!' you'll say,

'But if we take the set away,

What shall we do to entertain

Our darling children? Please explain!'

We'll answer this by asking you,

'What used the darling ones to do?

'How used they keep themselves contented

Before this monster was invented?'

Have you forgotten? Don't you know?

We'll say it very loud and slow:

THEY ... USED ... TO ... READ! They'd READ and READ,

AND READ and READ, and then proceed

To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!

One half their lives was reading books!

The nursery shelves held books galore!

Books cluttered up the nursery floor!

And in the bedroom, by the bed,

More books were waiting to be read!

Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales

Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales

And treasure isles, and distant shores

Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,

And pirates wearing purple pants,

And sailing ships and elephants,

And cannibals crouching 'round the pot,

Stirring away at something hot.

(It smells so good, what can it be?

Good gracious, it's Penelope.)

The younger ones had Beatrix Potter

With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,

And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,

And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and-

Just How The Camel Got His Hump,

And How the Monkey Lost His Rump,

And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul,

There's Mr. Rate and Mr. Mole-

Oh, books, what books they used to know,

Those children living long ago!

So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,

Go throw your TV set away,

And in its place you can install

A lovely bookshelf on the wall.

Then fill the shelves with lots of books,

Ignoring all the dirty looks,

The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,

And children hitting you with sticks-

Fear not, because we promise you

That, in about a week or two

Of having nothing else to do,

They'll now begin to feel the need

Of having something to read.

And once they start -- oh boy, oh boy!

You watch the slowly growing joy

That fills their hearts. They'll grow so keen

They'll wonder what they'd ever seen

In that ridiculous machine,

That nauseating, foul, unclean,

Repulsive television screen!

And later, each and every kid

Will love you more for what you did.

"The Medium is the Message"

First, read this article:
http://www.pluggedinonline.com/read/read/a0004706.cfm
Like it or not, technology has profoundly influenced our culture. I just finished reading Jane Austen's Persuasion today and was thinking about how our culture has changed so much in terms of friendships and relationships. Myspace and Twitter have taken the place of letter writing and parlor visits; texting has replaced many phone calls. Our world has gotten more connected, but our connections are shallower. I'm not bashing technology, but it needs to be put in it's place, and certainly not glorified.
I have often wondered how technology has affected our faith. The article mentions "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," a sermon by John Edwards from which we read excerpts in English class. One does not hear many sermons like it today:
"There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; there is hell's wide gaping mouth open; and you have nothing to stand upon, nor any thing to take hold of, there is nothing between you and hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up.
You probably are not sensible of this; you find you are kept out of hell, but do not see the hand of God in it; but look at other things, as the good state of your bodily constitution, your care of your own life, and the means you use for your own preservation. But indeed these things are nothing; if God should withdraw his hand, they would avail no more to keep you from falling, than the thin air to hold up a person that is suspended in it."
Wow. Compare that to a typical sermon today, and you will definitely notice the difference. (I am not saying one is better than the other, but I think it's interesting to note the differences in both style and content). Another effect of our culture is our shortened attention spans. Sermons today are at most an hour, Edwards' sermons were often several hours long. And there wasn't kid's church, where one could play games and do crafts. Children sat quietly through the long sermons with their parents. Today, in our internet browsing culture, we have trouble reading through the Bible in a year (I'll admit I've never done it) and instead rely on reading a couple verses somewhat-daily in a 1-minute devotional. In the sermon I heard on Sunday, the pastor said that many Christians are turning to a "Jaccuzi Jesus." They go to church to relax and feel warm and bubbly, but not to be challenged or made uncomfortable.
I'm not trying to be legalistic, but I think it is fascinating to consider the implications of technology on Christianity. At risk of repeating the article, I will stop here and just ask, what do you think of the article? Do you think the changes our culture has undergone are for the better or worse? Do you think the changes Christianity has undergone have been for the better or worse?