Connecting Through Corona

A critical and skeptical view of (dis-) connecting in times of corona It is fascinating how the Internet is connecting people all over the world in new and unexpected ways, radically shaping our perspective and giving the world a new type of central nervous system. Technology is clearly changing us, especially the way we connect with our friends, families, and the world around us. But technology has also led to some of the biggest problems of our daily life. It is accelerating our connectedness in ways we cannot even predict or be completely aware of. 2020 and the pandemic leveraged it into unprecedented extent . Let’s examine what can happen when these technologies take over and overwhelm our personal lives. The dark side refers to the caustic influence of technology on the individual and society where AI programs are designed to keep us scrolling frenetically manipulating us. This is the “climate change” of culture that’s happening visibly through our devices. Social media...

Doug Dunn   I had never much wanted to visit Plymouth. When my friend Carmel, visiting Devon for the first time, suggested it, we decided to go and see the Mayflower Museum. Good to do new things and I wanted to learn a little about American history.   We enjoyed the Mayflower 400 Exhibition commemorating its voyage from Plymouth in 1620. We read each poster display describing the story of how a small group of people transported themselves from humble beginnings in Nottinghamshire to Holland and then new world of America. I had heard about the Pilgrim Fathers and I was keen to learn the origins of the story.   After leaving the museum the guides suggested walking out onto the cobbled New Street and by Elizabethan House, once called London House, the offices of the London Company of Virginia. I sat on a bench while my friend went looking for coffees. I imagined meeting one of the pilgrim women and asking her what it was really like to be on that journey from Pl...