Sentinel, Cell Phones, Internet and Kid Stuff 210218

      Mom and me long, long ago.

      Cell phones have changed our lives. We always have them by our side, but like most things, there are good and bad things that come with them. The good is that we can have a phone in the car in case we have a breakdown. The bad is if you have a job your employer can call you day or night to bring you back to work and you can’t say you missed his/her call. Of course there is also the addictive thing with people constantly checking their phone, even when out for dinner with friends. One last thing with cell phones, when you have one up at your ear the radiation is going right into your brain at a higher power than is healthy. I never put my smartphone to my ear, always using the speakerphone application. I don’t need radio frequency radiation killing my brain.

      Internet is making us crazy. It shortens our attention span and makes us angry with what we see and listen to on our phone or computer. We get frustrated when the internet runs slow and we have to wait on it to run. At red/green stop signs if people have to wait more than a few seconds they invariably pick up their phones and start checking or sending messages and do not realize the light has turned green again. They wake up just long enough to get through the light, but those of us behind them have to wait for another green light or two. That makes me angry because I am waiting behind them and I see what they did.

      Kid stuff. When I was a youngster we used to do some strange things. One was the group would spin someone around 10 or so times and let you go. After those spins we would take a step or two and fall to the ground. Another thing was taking 10 or so deep breaths to hyperventilate and then the person behind you would jerk hard on your stomach and cause you to pass out and fall to the ground. I know now that was dumb, but we did it. One last thing, at a park with a merry-go-round the older kids would put the younger ones on the merry-go-round and then get it spinning very fast until all the younger ones would lose their grip from the cylindrical force and go flying off the merry-go-round. That was fun when I was getting tossed off, but I never did that to others after I grew up.