Cell phone provide the illusion of freedom. Though they offer all of Humanity's knowledge at one's fingertips, few people use them to Garner that knowledge. In an age in which knowledge is power, the lack thereof would logically mean the lack of power. This diminishment of power would ultimately imply and lead to a diminishment of freedom.
So, cell phone offer the illusion of freedom, as well as a leash for those who control the technology behind cell phones. When they can gather all of the statistics that comprise you behaviors 24 hours a day, they can manipulate you in ways that not only impact your life indirectly but most importantly directly.
When one spends at least nine hours looking at the tiny cell phone screen, influence must play an important role in that screentime. From the most frivolous of impulse purchases to cultural adoption to political leanings, cells phone are developing our characters. This is the only way to explain so many people's inability to define what a woman is and to differentiate one from a man. In the past, such information as what defines a woman would have circulated slowly and more often than not withered and died on the grapevine. In a world of instantaneous and constant communication, topics such as these are not susceptible to proper scrutiny. Instead, the bias of zealots is confirmed and reinforced by other zealots who believe that everyone would succumb to their beliefs... Or else. In modern times the only difference is that the punishment is more humane or civil than in the past. No longer are people burned at the stake. They are simply put in a position in which steak or any form of sustenance is out of their reach. They are no longer executed in the Public Square but cast aside to suffer beyond prying eyes that might see them as martyrs instead os pariahs.
Cell phones are leashes that link us to the world at large while offering diminishing returns. In this regard, I would simply ask one to consider the following for perspective. At what point does a cell phone become a greater liability than luxury? Access to millions of people you may never have had access to in the past is great until those millions of people turn against you. One bad post, text, image, video or reference to a bad post, text, image or video and you've go from famous to infamous. You become worse than a "has been" in an instant and your fifteen minutes of fame is gone. Your lifestyle as a well-paid influencer is over and the lifestyle creep of which you've been ignorant is exposed. The debt reliant on every click your internet present garners is now a chain around your neck, as is the shame you may experience whether it is deserved or not.
Cell phone have even tied your hands in the most minor of ways and you don't even realize it. I have a friend who gets worried when she doesn't here from her grown children (25 years and 27 years old) ever few hours. How did people cope with only knowing where their adult children were when those children were in their presence or near a landline? How did people cope with such separations when the means of communication was via a letter that could take days, weeks, months or years to make it from sender to recipient? I guess more faith was required back in the day. People had to believe that their loved ones existed in a realm in which safety was in greater supply than trauma and death. So, are you more free when you don't have to check your cell phone every fine minutes for a text or when you simply had to wait for the mail to arrive? Are you more free when every idea you post is scrutinized by hundreds, thousands or millions of people or when your ideas are shared in confidence with a few of your most trusted confidentes? It sounds like we have the illusion of freedom.
In 2018, I wrote a book highlighting the problems Humanity would face if more power, wealth, and control was funneled to a small group of elite individuals, groups, or organizations. In my book, I provided solutions (from myself and others) to the inevitable problems and also a means for the Public to analyze, compare, and contrast the words and deeds of those we choose to follow against reality. In my book Solutions: Enough complaining. Let's fix America.
In "Solutions...", I provide the means for readers to disseminate information as provided by their news sources of choice, their elected officials, and any other authority they choose to follow. The book also offers a means to hold their leaders up, not just to a higher standard than is currently accepted but to one that would improve their lives and the lives of those for whom they care.
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