Meddling In Each Other's Lives
Today, I want to touch on a very *ahem* touchy subject (you see what I did there :D). The subject of our interconnectivity in today's day and age and how that affects and often blows out of porportion our daily lives. How we are so connected, that unless a great effort is given to go "off the grid," almost all of our lives can be traced through electronic interaction.
Fifteen years ago, the internet was still a pretty new thing for most people. Yes it had gained some ground in the late eighties and early ninties, but at that time, it was reserved for what most people called "geeks" and "nerds." Most interactions were text based and modern browsers as we know them had yet to be even thought of. Downloading a picture often took the better part of an hour, and movies? Reserved to simple .gif formats of single ideas like this one: http://www.gifs.net/image/Webdesign_Elements/Bullets/4_rhombuses/1243.
Facebook was a good eight or nine years away and the first web browser, about two or three years. People lived normal lives, and if something stupid or funny happened, usually it only got around to the group of immediate friends of those involved (unless it was a small town, every one knows everybody else's buisness in a small town). A video caught by a camcorder would often only be shared between friends, or at worst to a small group. There was no fascination with cats, outside of those who already owned one, and captioning pictures of them, well that was completely rediculous.
It was a much simpler time. Sort of. Research had to be done by physically looking it up in a book, and video game "cheats" were spread by word of mouth. Often these "cheats" were just hearsay or urban legends, and many a child spent hours trying to beat Super Metroid in record time to see Samus Aran naked (Protip, the most scantily clad she gets is a bikini). But kids didn't spend most of their days inside, and a bruise or a broken arm was often held in high regard on the playground.
Nowadays, you can't sneeze in a funny manner without someone getting it on video with their iPhone camera. The internet is flooded with pictures taken with Instagram, and flickr has seen over several million accounts opened in the few years that it has been opened. When a new game is coming out, I often have to avoid the internet a few days because of the possibility of spoilers.
However, not all of this is bad. If I ever find myself stuck in a video game, all I have to do is hop online and find a guide for the game. Facebook also allows me to chat with friends instantly, and often times these are friends with whom I've had little to no face time with in the last few months. I can submit assignments for my classes almost instantly via e-mail or other means (moodle for those who use it).
But we have to get to the real reason that I'm blogging about this issue. As I stated earlier, you can't sneeze without someone capturing a video of it. Or in the case of one pastor, you can't tip nothing without the waitress posting the receipt online.
For those of you who are unaware of the fiasco that I am referring to, go to http://www.thegrindstone.com/2013/02/01/career-management/pastor-no-tip-applebees-waitress-fired/ to check out the story. For those of you who do know what I'm talking about, I just find the whole issue detestable. As I mentioned not long ago via Twitter (go to twitter.com/jdmninjaman22 to find me) both parties were at fault.
For one, the pastor was at fault because not only did he flat out refuse to give the poor waitress even a small tip, he outright gave her $0, but he also stated on the receipt that he was a pastor! For heaven's sake man, use your head a little bit! Number one, I doubt the waitress could have been so bad that she didn't deserve a tip at all. I understand you when you get frustraited at a bad waitress. I myself have had some pretty bad waitresses, but I don't stiff them completely on the tip! Number two, don't state that you are a pastor on the receipt after you don't give her a tip! If you truly wanted to witness to her, that is not the way to do it.
But on the other hand, the waitress isn't entirely out of the blame either. I can understand the frustration that you may have at receiving a tip of $0, but don't post a picture of the entire receipt online so the whole world can see it. Girl, that move was a firing in the making. If I were your manager, I would've fired you on the spot as well! A reciept contains confidential material between the customer and the store and sharing that confidential material with the whole world is easily grounds for suing, much less firing. I don't feel sorry one bit for you, because your actions were deplorable.
And now we come full circle to what I was talking about earlier in my blog post. We have become so interconnected that one simple picture can cause almost the entire United States to go into an uproar over the actions of one single man. Ten to fifteen years ago, this incident would have passed by unnoticed by anyone. But nowadays, because of our interconnectivity, we have this happening on a daily basis. The right to privacy has now been invaded by the right to "knowing what everyone around you is doing."
Methinks we have a bit too much technology in our lives, and this is coming from the man who loves staying up to date with the latest tech.
Fifteen years ago, the internet was still a pretty new thing for most people. Yes it had gained some ground in the late eighties and early ninties, but at that time, it was reserved for what most people called "geeks" and "nerds." Most interactions were text based and modern browsers as we know them had yet to be even thought of. Downloading a picture often took the better part of an hour, and movies? Reserved to simple .gif formats of single ideas like this one: http://www.gifs.net/image/Webdesign_Elements/Bullets/4_rhombuses/1243.
Facebook was a good eight or nine years away and the first web browser, about two or three years. People lived normal lives, and if something stupid or funny happened, usually it only got around to the group of immediate friends of those involved (unless it was a small town, every one knows everybody else's buisness in a small town). A video caught by a camcorder would often only be shared between friends, or at worst to a small group. There was no fascination with cats, outside of those who already owned one, and captioning pictures of them, well that was completely rediculous.
It was a much simpler time. Sort of. Research had to be done by physically looking it up in a book, and video game "cheats" were spread by word of mouth. Often these "cheats" were just hearsay or urban legends, and many a child spent hours trying to beat Super Metroid in record time to see Samus Aran naked (Protip, the most scantily clad she gets is a bikini). But kids didn't spend most of their days inside, and a bruise or a broken arm was often held in high regard on the playground.
Nowadays, you can't sneeze in a funny manner without someone getting it on video with their iPhone camera. The internet is flooded with pictures taken with Instagram, and flickr has seen over several million accounts opened in the few years that it has been opened. When a new game is coming out, I often have to avoid the internet a few days because of the possibility of spoilers.
However, not all of this is bad. If I ever find myself stuck in a video game, all I have to do is hop online and find a guide for the game. Facebook also allows me to chat with friends instantly, and often times these are friends with whom I've had little to no face time with in the last few months. I can submit assignments for my classes almost instantly via e-mail or other means (moodle for those who use it).
But we have to get to the real reason that I'm blogging about this issue. As I stated earlier, you can't sneeze without someone capturing a video of it. Or in the case of one pastor, you can't tip nothing without the waitress posting the receipt online.
For those of you who are unaware of the fiasco that I am referring to, go to http://www.thegrindstone.com/2013/02/01/career-management/pastor-no-tip-applebees-waitress-fired/ to check out the story. For those of you who do know what I'm talking about, I just find the whole issue detestable. As I mentioned not long ago via Twitter (go to twitter.com/jdmninjaman22 to find me) both parties were at fault.
For one, the pastor was at fault because not only did he flat out refuse to give the poor waitress even a small tip, he outright gave her $0, but he also stated on the receipt that he was a pastor! For heaven's sake man, use your head a little bit! Number one, I doubt the waitress could have been so bad that she didn't deserve a tip at all. I understand you when you get frustraited at a bad waitress. I myself have had some pretty bad waitresses, but I don't stiff them completely on the tip! Number two, don't state that you are a pastor on the receipt after you don't give her a tip! If you truly wanted to witness to her, that is not the way to do it.
But on the other hand, the waitress isn't entirely out of the blame either. I can understand the frustration that you may have at receiving a tip of $0, but don't post a picture of the entire receipt online so the whole world can see it. Girl, that move was a firing in the making. If I were your manager, I would've fired you on the spot as well! A reciept contains confidential material between the customer and the store and sharing that confidential material with the whole world is easily grounds for suing, much less firing. I don't feel sorry one bit for you, because your actions were deplorable.
And now we come full circle to what I was talking about earlier in my blog post. We have become so interconnected that one simple picture can cause almost the entire United States to go into an uproar over the actions of one single man. Ten to fifteen years ago, this incident would have passed by unnoticed by anyone. But nowadays, because of our interconnectivity, we have this happening on a daily basis. The right to privacy has now been invaded by the right to "knowing what everyone around you is doing."
Methinks we have a bit too much technology in our lives, and this is coming from the man who loves staying up to date with the latest tech.
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