Are you safe in cyber space?

Is social media draining our brain? 60 years ago they thought that TV would rot our minds addicting us to shows of mindless dribble just like the reality shows we are all hooked on these days do. We watch it all religiously for no particular reason and we learn nothing from it. Now we have the internet providing us with whatever we need to know without personal researching. Is google making us stupid? We have the “answers” with us at all times on our phones. Can we be sure that the answers we are given are correct? Are they unbiased? Trump and the dictators around the world want to censor the information we get. Now we have politicians saying that it is “fake news” when something is reported that doesn’t benefit themselves. What is the truth anymore and where can we find it? Has society reached the same thinking that lawyers have that the truth is unimportant?  It is all about who can plead their case better and win a decision. All the worst criminals have even court appointed lawyers. Trump hires new lawyers to bail him out of controversy all the time. Where is ethics and integrity anymore?

Now we all are spending 2 to 3 hours a day watching media or “socializing” on our phones each day. That adds up to a chunk of our lives. Statistics say that on average people are turning on and off their phones 300 times per day. Is our curiosity over “likes” and comments another full time job? How shallow have we become that we need this kind of recognition? Our attention span has been reduced to minutes and quick pictures with a caption. My rant here is probably already too long for people to tolerate. We can swipe now. Swipe left and poof even people are deleted on a dating site along with your e-mails. Are we too critical now and we don’t give anything much of our time anymore? But we do make time to see a stupid mindless reality show.

We like reality shows because we want to see the next new thing. That is how Trump got elected. He turned serious debates involving important leaders into a comedic reality show name calling just about everyone on that stage and we were drawn into the debates no longer to see who the best candidate would become to lead our great country but just to see Trumps unbelievable new antics and it worked. He won the election.

Facebook was the first place to take short takes with pictures and captions to make the idea into a highly profitable media organization. Advertisers were given a one click roadmap into our brains.  The Russians bought advertising on Facebook and published outrageous things like Hillary running a child prostitution ring out of the back room of a Pizza place and folks believed that crap as to be true. Therefore, with Trump’s collusion and money laundering with Putin, it worked, and he won the election. Hillary had the best resume of experience and education on that stage. Trump had no experience and no law degree and not even a good business background. Yet he won the best job in America.

The creator of the like button thought he would be creating a kinder gentler world instead people have become nastier and more insulting to people they really don’t even know. Would we act the way we do on social media hiding behind our phones and computers if we said the things we do to each other in person? The way to make money now is not through selling a product we can hold in our hands. They make money now by grasping  folks   attention through advertising, sensational fake news and uncensored Tweets. Trump’s tweets can start a nuclear war. Rosanne’s tweets can ruin the careers of actors and destroy millions of dollars in revenue for a hit show. The manipulation of our minds is far more damaging than any weapon. Be safe in cyber space.