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Techs and the City: The good, the bad and the ugly

Clint Little_1The Good

On the anniversary of 9/11, it is worth remembering how technology came into play.

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When the towers collapsed the earth was littered with the untold stories of over 3000 people yet some of their messages got out thanks to mobile phones.

As firemen raced upward to kill the burning blaze of the jet fuel that felled two 100 story buildings, messages got out because people were able to to call their loved ones from a crumbling ruin.

Without a device that we take for granted like a mobile phone – these people’s stories may never have been told.

Stories of gay teenage suicide in rural and remote communities are all too common but thanks to social media like Facebook, those numbers are decreasing. Isolation can be a killer but something as everyday as a Facebook friend can save a life.

Technology can connect today in a way that has never been possible in human history. Yet advances in technology will always come at a price.

Like the lead pipes and goblets that lead to the downfall of the Roman Empire, it can be a slippery slope from advancement to decline.

The Bad

I start with the Kardashians as it’s a very good place to start. Thanks to a single sex tape that was “leaked” onto the internet; a social media empire was born. With about 50 million followers on Twitter, the twitterverse is awash with the inane scribblings of a vacuous socialite become newsworthy.

This is not good. This is very bad.

But wait there’s more…

Ever heard of a little tiny baby lesbian lookalike named Justin Beiber? Of course you have, along with 90 million others, his tweesy twinky thoughts are valued more highly above Barack Obama and the closest contender of a queer voice on Twitter’s top 100 hundred is Ellen Degeneres at a paltry 63 million followers.

The Ugly

#excessive #hashtagging #has #become #an #epidemic #of #biblical #plague #proportions #its #just #another #photo #of #your #food #or #your #cat #stop #it

But saving the worst for last… digital technology has freed up the opportunity for over sharers everywhere to share their dick pics. While this does offer a try-before-you-buy scenario it also begs the question… do you want to see a photo of your nearest and dearest’s genitalia before they plunge to their death in an airplane?

Or maybe just a hello, I love you that can defy gravity (albeit briefly) that can show that sometimes a decent phone plan is totally worth it.

So it’s not all bad.

Clinton Little

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