AVOID BAD COMPANY
I love to see what happened in history on any specific day that has special meaning to me. 42 years ago today, my second daughter was born. She was the smallest of the six children, but what she lacked in stature, she abounded in tenacity. If you told her she couldn’t do something she would set out to prove you wrong, but was always respectful in her perseverance.
I ran across an interesting fact about the Apple Computer, and its date of incorporation.
*1977 – Apple Computer Incorporated Apple Computer is incorporated 6 months after Apple had begun selling it’s Apple I personal computer kit for $666.66 created by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak*The People History
You have to admire the intelligence of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak for what they have accomplished in the area of computer technology. But you also have to ask yourself, if it was a coincidence that they offered up their computer kit for $666 .66, or if they were thumbing their nose at the Bible reference to 666 being the Mark of the Beast. It almost gives you the feeling that they were playing with fire, with what the popular opinion of that number would be.
The computer age itself, has brought a world of information to our fingertips. But like anything else it can be a breeding ground of temptation, identity theft, and misinformation. For instance, my children’s book, Slick ‘N Slide, (according to Wikipedia), was written by Joyce M. Lambert, age 88, a British Botanist, who died two years before the book was published. It has since been corrected, but for a while that mis-information was out there in cyberspace.
The computer age, with smart phones, GPS, Siri, Google etc…, has made it possible for predators to entice young people, pretending to someone other than themselves. There is a bounty of wonderful things at our fingertips, and danger also lurking for the unsuspecting. If anyone has a predisposition to pornography, gambling, and other unhealthy habits, great care must be taken to avoid this temptation. I have a friend who told me her son sold his computer, because he was becoming addicted to on-line gambling and worked too hard for his money to see it disappear into cyberspace. It took a great amount of fortitude for that twenty-two year old, to sell his computer. Another friend said he had to quit playing games on the internet when he realized how much time he was wasting. Sometimes, I have to take a break from Facebook, because I just don’t want to see another provocative selfie, taken by someone wanting attention.
I think messaging is very convenient for inessential things like, “Please, pick up some milk, or I am running late, please wait for me. But when it comes personal notes, nothing beats a hand written note. It shows you care and that the person you are communicating with is worth the time you spent writing and mailing the note.
As parents it is important that just because everyone else in school has a phone, doesn’t mean your child is mature enough to be entrusted with one. When you do give them that privilege, you should on occasion monitor who they have been in contact with and what sights they are visiting on the web. This is not meant to invade their privacy, but to protect them from unsavory elements. Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
I Corinthians 15:33
After all, they need parents who love them enough to be careful but strict.
We as writers can warn the public of internet dangers with the facts. We don’t need to fan the flames of urban legends, and UFO sightings, but warnings about cyber crimes like identity theft can be very useful. There are many good qualities to the internet, and when not abused, can be very rewarding.