Gratification

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Reading a newspaper in this time of age may seem like a ludicrous minded idea to most people. I fall in the category of the ludicrous minded ones. So going through hours of reading Sunday paper for my pleasure, I came across this article. Of course it took a better part of Friday night to read last weeks paper, but I did it. Here is an excerpt of DIGITAL DISMISSAL by Don Fernandez from the Sunday Living of the AJC. It is only an excerpt but if you are interested, you can find it online at Digital Dismissal. Read at least the excerpt because it is hilarious and very “educational”.

Mr. Fernandez like many others hit home a strong point about breaking relationships by a click of a button. It is an instant way of getting what I see has GADGET GRATIFICATION. Whenever I see people doing it, it amazes me to think of them as so naïve and so insecure that they feel liberated by blocking or erasing someone. It is such a childish play but the article says it is so “sophisticated” because it is using technology. Supposedly you feel better after blocking someone. Folks honestly believe that “blocking or erasing” someone will erase them from their life. What an unfathomable idea! Erasing someone from your life would take more than a click of a button. Furthermore if you don’t think u have the will to resist them when you see them on the list, most probably you won’t forget them that easily. Hey it is just an idea!

I tried to see how many people are on my blocked list. I have to say that I don’t block anyone I know. I don’t see the point. Speaking of old flames if I block my ex or someone who is close to me, what would that give me? I don’t believe in harboring bitter feelings for anyone and to do so without face-to-face confrontation to me seems COWARDLY! If I do harbor bitter feelings, believe me you would know. I wouldn’t do it in my cell phone or my IM list without you knowing how I feel!

It is not just teens or college kids doing this though. It is mature adults who really think they can erase someone from their soul if they erase them from their gadgets. This kind of so called ‘passive-aggressive pleasure’ is giving people such an easy way out of communication. Folks simply forget how to confront any situation because hey why confront when you can avoid and take the easy way out.

Breaking up over email, deleting friends from your IM list, erasing numbers from your cell phones, blocking people’s emails, and avoiding issues. All these might seem like fantastic ideas and will make great advertisements but when you come right down to the issue. It may take more than digital deletion to make someone get out of your life or heart or soul or mind and every other reachable point in your senses!

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Digital dismissal By DON FERNANDEZ

Stifle the shouting. Don't bother slamming the door. Save the stress of pounding the phone into its cradle.

It's all so ... uncivilized.

The art of the snub is now far more sophisticated.

Erasing a friend from a cell phone contact list. Blocking e-mails that originate from an undesirable. Deleting a former flame from an IM list. Not to mention trashing every grinning digital photo from the phone and the hard drive.

Face-to-face confrontation? Why bother when there's the digital dis.

Welcome to eradication nation.

A current Nokia commercial features a woman deleting an ex — and all his remnants — from her cell phone contact list.

Is she bitter? Hardly. Her reaction is one of liberation. Passive-aggressive pleasure.

And electronic excommunication extends beyond the telephone. E-mails, instant messages — a simple block button can let someone know they are now persona non grata.

As electronic devices become an extension of personality, erasing someone from a cellphone is effectively removing that person from your soul.