Dear Technology... It's Time we Reconnect!

Dear Technology,

I have been meaning to write you for some time. I know you are quite busy, with your hand in everything from our doorbells, cell phones, and cars, to our pacemakers, space shuttles, and nucleur reactors. I am grateful for so much that you have done for me, humanity, and the planet we live on (yes, I am one of those Global Thinkers). But to be honest, I am also significantly concerned about other aspects of your impact. And so I felt we should reconnect (pun intended) and start an open dialogue.

Rather than send you handwritten letters, I am opting to blog. It's all the rage these days! Did you know there are over 156 million blogs floating around the web with 900,000 new posts each day?! Thanks to you, we are saving countless trees and reports of dog attacks on mailmen have dropped by 29.46%. For my Positive Psychology course at Baruch College, I had my students contribute 100% of their homework and reflections on a class blog. Providing the students a canvas to share their creative reflections of the course materials, post photos, videos, and have a back-and-forth dialogue for all the class to see has been a major advance on the way students engage in learning.

Speaking of learning, I must say that I am not entirely enthused by the side effects of the shift towards blogging, tweeting and other digital communications. To be honest, I am completely overwhelmed with the propogation of opinions and information available today. I can hardly keep up with the evershrinking shorthand, and see a negative impact on people's ability to write coherent, structured and gramatical longhand. OMG, it's Redic! Is our current shift in techno- communication on par with previous shifts in communication? Is this enigmatic of a broader evolution in our brains? We have much to discuss, dearest Technology. My hope is that by opening up this dialogue, we can help others develop mindful ways of relating to you.

I must run to my appointment at Apple's Genius Bar- I just can't seem to get my iPhone, iPad, MacbookPro, and new Apple iCan-Openner to work in sync. Wish me luck!

Hope to hear from you soon,

Mindfully, 

David