ELECTRONICALLY CONNECTED RESULTS IN SPIRITUAL AND INTELLECTUAL ATROPHY

 ELECTRONICALLY CONNECTED RESULTS IN SPIRITUAL AND INTELLECTUAL ATROPHY

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD Traditional Realist

 

 

Modern adults and children are plugged into their electronic devices throughout the day. Children are on their smart phones socializing, playing games, listening to music, exploring their favorite social media sites and sending messages, photos and memes to their friends. Their parents are just as electronically immersed and addicted to searching the internet, socializing, working from home, networking and getting their dose of news from social media. Even when they are supposedly interacting with their child at some event, instead of focusing on the child’s activity many parents take out their cell phones forgetting the purpose of the event.

 

The process of being connected to electronic devices has grown exponentially in the past decade. With most mothers now in the workforce, ‘latchkey’ children have become the norm. Children are no longer able, trained, or trusted to play in the neighborhood with their peers. Children are isolated in their homes with their devices that have become their means of entertainment and way of socializing with others. Youngsters at home can play video games alone or with their online acquaintances. Cyber space has become young people’s keyhole to view and interact with the world outside their home. 

 

Parents are in a similar fix as their employment requires hours at the job or on the computer at home. Most professional positions require work being done after normal business hours. Husbands and wives often juggle their schedules to cover each other’s job obligations while the other monitors the home. This usually means little time to spend with their children, relatives, friends and even spouse. 

 

The unity and closeness among family has diminished. Most people are in their own virtual world without support and ability to share with significant others. Being isolated from others prevents individuals from gaining insight and wisdom from them.

 

Without having trusted individuals and the time to share feelings and thoughts, people are isolated in a fast paced and confusing world. There is little opportunity to learn the pros and cons of one’s own ideas from others. A life excluding close and caring human interactions results in a self-indulgent, narrow, robotic person or a total phony. 

 

Youngsters have to be taught to be aware of unusual situations and how to overcome obstacles and challenges. The absence of this training leaves children unable to think for themselves. These individuals usually remain limited to their own beliefs without exploring other possibilities. It takes time and opportunity to review one’s thoughts on an issue to logically and critically develop thinking skills. We all need reflective time to integrate life lessons. 

 

In this modern electronic age information is bombarding us at a furious pace. We often do not take the time to research information to find out what is fake or true. We should verify it so we can learn from reality. The more correct knowledge we have the better we can put together life’s puzzle to see the whole picture. 

 

Integrating information, observing, developing intuition and common sense are becoming lost abilities of the electronic overload of citizens. What a person says verbally, through their facial expressions and body language are important nuances that help us obtain a clearer picture of what they mean rather than what they say. This rarely happens even in electronic video conferencing. 

 

Online “friends” project what they want others to think they are rather than who they really are. Cyber contacts are mostly superficial acquaintances. who most people would be cautious about sharing their deepest feelings and experiences. The person sharing the most conflicting thoughts and feelings is dangerous. Healthy people should share personal information carefully online before revealing anything that could come back to haunt or harm them and should shy away from putting themselves in this jeopardy.

 

An exclusively electronic lifestyle leaves a person in a sterile social environment. This interpersonal vacuum leaves little opportunity to develop knowledge and skills to become more aware of the world of reality. It does not allow the electronically addicted persons to develop their full intellectual and spiritual capacities.

 

Humans need significant intimate relationships to assist them to gain wisdom and to learn how to comprehend the often-confusing life events. These intimate human interactions would help them better perceive and interpret the earthly and spiritual world. We need to be grounded in reality with personal, loving relationships with others to develop into a fulfilled and stable person, not spend our time online trying to impress people we do not even know.

 

 

 

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN  and a recent book entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can see many of Dr. Maglio’s articles at www.drmaglioblogspot.com.