One thing I like to do is pick diary topics from the things I naturally encounter. I hear something, I watch something, I read something … it strikes a chord, the chord tells me to write about it. I have hundreds of things in the ‘hopper.’ They are always things that struck a chord, but I didn’t write about them immediately, so I have to eventually go back through old archived threads if they are ever to be rediscovered. Almost always, when I do that, I can immediately remember what struck the chord in the first place.
Tonight I am not revisiting one of the ‘lost chords,’ I am writing about one that I saw today. It was a little video, a parable of societal dysfunction, if you will. Everywhere a young woman turns, she encounters human beings disconnected from the world through modern technology, seemingly of their own volition. The video is a part of a Canadian campaign to bring people together in the year of their country’s 150th anniversary. Very nice!
The people passing her don’t intend to diss her, she simply isn’t a factor in what they’re experiencing. She doesn’t exist within the context of their life’s matrix.
In the interest of full disclosure, I have to say, I love my phone. I love the things it can do, I love using it to get information, I love using it to communicate with my friends and co-workers. I love that I can research anything, read most anything, watch cool things. I am not a big gamer. I don’t receive a lot of calls, not least because of my hearing handicap (from my bicycle accident a few years ago). I don’t text that much. Some. I NEVER text or talk on the phone while driving. I am perfectly fine putting it down (and leaving it down) when I am in company with others. But I do love it, and do not wish to dispense with it. (Not least because I consider it an essential tool in the political fights we have to make these days.)
But, certainly, I have experienced what the young woman experienced, the sense of being invisible, even non-existent, to others in the vicinity. It isn’t a good feeling, I suspect it isn’t a healthy feeling.
Though our community has significant distracted driving legislation, every day I see drivers totally disregarding that. Even law enforcement officers do it. I hope that I never make anyone feel invisible, but it isn’t a guarantee I can make.
Here is the little video, then!
What I loved most about it was that it didn’t merely express a significant societal problem. It also proposed a fine counter, a fine alternative, about appreciating the quality of the human beings in our lives, about letting them appreciate us. Look at the joy on those faces!
The Atlantic has two good articles on the value of eating together. The first one is from 2014, The second from 2015. Both are good.
The first article points out some serious advantages to eating together.
Children who do not eat dinner with their parents at least twice a week also were 40 percent more likely to be overweight compared to those who do, as outlined in a research presentation given at the European Congress on Obesity in Bulgaria this May. On the contrary, children who do eat dinner with their parents five or more days a week have less trouble with drugs and alcohol, eat healthier, show better academic performance, and report being closer with their parents
And the second article asks some good questions.
People sitting opposite each other inevitably pass dishes or pans, and are almost forced to look each other in the eye and to converse. People sitting next to each other look at a third person, or out of the window, or at a wall. Does that looking, or indeed not looking, make the exchange of confidences easier?
I would ask, does it make true communication easier? I think it does.
And …
The table is the center of a universe in which we seek our place, revolving like planets around the sun, drawn by the gravity of the regularity of eating and the longing for company.
These are not bad things. Far from it.
We live in a time of great stress. I think it is important to pay attention to tools that help discharge that stress, to opportunities for unity and community. Most importantly, I think it has great value to promote the idea - so critical to us Democrats - that WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER. It is a powerful idea, critical to our survival as individuals, as a species and as a world that is much larger than us, with many more non-human beings and organisms. If eating together can help, I am all for it!
And here is a little video about a possible future for our technological dependence and disconnectedness. Some of you may recognize it.
On to tonight’s comments! Formatted by my special friend and collaborator, brillig!
TOP COMMENTS
Brillig's ObDisclaimer: The decision to publish each nomination lies with the evening's Diarist and/or Comment Formatter. My evenings at the helm, I try reeeeallllyy hard to publish everything without regard to content. I really do, even when I disagree personally with any given nomination. "TopCommentness" lies in the eyes of the nominator and of you, the reader - I leave the decision to you. I do not publish self-nominations (ie your own comments) and if I ruled the world, we'd all build community, supporting and uplifting instead of tearing our fellow Kossacks down. Please remember that comment inclusion in Top Comments does not constitute support or endorsement by diarist, formatter, Top Comments writers or DailyKos. Questions, complaints or comments? Contact brillig.
From False equivalency:
This comment by high uintas is no false equivalence!
From Mopshell:
From BF Skinner's daily series, the diary Which diary authors on Daily Kos do you go out of your way to read? this comment by RationalSouthCarolina came from the heart and touch the hearts of all those who read it.
This one turned up in my diary: Trump, the Embarrassment-in-Chief, and I had to bring it to Top Comments because I haven't laughed so hard in weeks! There's not been much to laugh about in the Trump era so this comment by Lib Dem FoP - a handy phonetic version of the Welsh anthem - was especially appreciated.
This is such an outstanding comment, this time by kovie, that it would be a disservice to Daily Kos not to bring it to Top Comments. Again I was privileged to find it in my diary Trump, the Embarrassment-in-Chief.
From MikeTheLiberal:
This excellent response by praesepe explains what the real problem in America is: it's not nationality, it's religion, and the exclusionary religious practices make Putin a "role model" for conservative religious Americans.
From belinda ridgewood:
In Seashells' rec-listed diary about Trump's theft of someone else's coat of arms, Hinoema01 manages to locate the actual Drumpf crest and OleHippieChick interprets its true heraldic meaning.
TOP MOJO
Top Mojo for yesterday, May 28th 2017, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on FAQing Top Mojo.
TOP PICTURES
Top Pictures for yesterday, May 28th 2017. Click any picture to be taken to the full comment or picture. Thank you jotter!