Sunday, February 2, 2014

Facebook and Texting Part Three of Three; We Found A Witch, May We Burn Her?

When I was a kid, some of my favorite TV shows were those animal kingdom programs.  I remember one episode which was about the mating habits of birds.  Many of the male birds would do a little dance, poof out their feathers, show off their colors and impress the female with their ritual dance and antics.

When I was in Junior High School, the same thing occurred except with teenagers.  The day would start with the boy standing at his open locker and the girl would approach and stand with her back to the lockers as close to the open door as possible in an attempt to get his full attention by being in the way.  She would then pass him a note on a piece of paper (ancient form of texting) which was neatly folded in a square and written in colored ink with hearts over the letter "i." When she passed the note to him, their hands would touch and both would get a rush of adrenaline.  The boy would read the note during first period and spend the next two classes contemplating what to write back or carefully crafting just the right response.  It was a far cry from the instant (and often regrettable) replies of today's texting phones.  Maybe his crafted written response would invite her to watch him at soccer practice after school or meet in the hallway or to call him tonight.  At lunch, she would sit with the girls and he with the boys.  Both on the outside of the table so they could catch discreet glimpses of one another.  He would go to the soda machine and she would get up too.  They may brush up against one other getting soda and he would pass her his note.  Their hands would touch.  Electric.  At practice, she would sit in the bleachers with a friend and pretend not to watch and he would puff out his feathers, taking chances, being really aggressive on the field and showing off in front of her.  Eventually, you know what happens next.  We'll just close the curtain here.

Today, kids just text one another and the magic of passing the note and standing at the locker is lost.  Kids text one another even if they are in the same room together.  They then go home and much like stalking, will check out their Facebook page and all their friends and maybe some of the friends.  Something is lost in the mating dance and ritual.  Today, texting quickly escalates into sending selfies and it is not long before one of them requests a "show me yours, I'll show you mine" text. 

Steve W. of Ohio shared nude photos between himself and his girl friend when they were 15 and he kept all her  photos.  At the age or 25 he purchased a new phone and had the sales people transfer his data - and they saw the pics.  Why would a 25 year old man have nude pictures of a 15 year old girl on his phone?  Obviously a pedophile, pervert, sicko so they called the police.  Steve got 15 years for possession of child porn.  When he gets out he will be 40 but fear not parents.  Because he won't be able to live near a school, park, playground or bus stop; this creepy 40 year old guy won't be prowling the bushes for your unattended children.

Today, many parents give their children cell phones so they can contact one another at any time.  They can activate apps such as Latitude which will display their exact location at all times.  Well, at least their phones.  There are also dozens of other spy apps.  They enable you to see all of your child's texts both sent or received, listen in on phone calls, know of their location and receive copies of the pictures they take.  If your 16 year old daughter receives a nude photo of her 16 year old boy friend, you too will get a copy of it too but don't keep it.  For, in 15 years when you get out of prison for possessing child pornography, the sex offender registry won't allow you to live near a school, church, day care, park or playground (unless you have a car, then you can drive there).  But at least our unattended children will be safe from you because we'll spend $300,000,00 each year on that glorified photo album to know where you live, but not where you are. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axJszKh0qC4

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