Are We Creating Our Own Nightmare with Technology?
In the wake of the biggest mass killing on a school campus in history, and with recorded workplace incidents in Atlanta and other cities, the news is that these perpetrators are people who have experienced repeated rejection, are frustrated and angry, and are lashing out in the only way they know how. That news certainly does not condone their actions, but let's ask, "Can we help prevent such destructive retaliation?"
Objects of Aggravation
Communications technology is more advanced than ever:
- Cell phones
- Voice mail
- Faxing
- Websites
- SMS text messaging
- Blog pages (social networking)
- Linking between all of the above
- Answering and call routing systems
Yet people are using these technologies - not to make themselves more accessible - but to screen all but the very elite of their social networks. And they don't reply to email, voicemail or other messages left for them. This causes enormous frustration among everyone outside that elite circle trying unsuccessfully to reach them.
Of course, part of the reason people are screening incoming messages is that the recipients also are overloaded and frustrated, and so it becomes a vicious cycle of screening and being screened.
Non-technology Social Factors
All of us have experienced some level of frustration and anger resulting from technology. From an unwanted social relationship being screened, to a salesman failing to reach an important unresponsive commercial contact, to a consumer trying to cut through intentional corporate fog masquerading as customer service, we all experience some abuse through technology. The difference is how we choose to deal with the frustration and anger.
Compounding the emotions are people's unwillingness to take responsibility for their actions. This is a no-fault age. Call it the Harris Syndrome, after the author of the book, I'm OK, You're OK. It doesn't matter what you do, you're not responsible. You are what you are because of someone else's action or inaction - usually that of your parents.
And then there are the homicidal thugs acting under the guise of religious or nationalistic ideology. Whatever their misguided course, these criminals are perfectly willing to sacrifice themselves along with their victims.
Dissemination
Perhaps related to the emotions of frustration and anger is the need for glory, for recognition. People are making videos of the most outrageous things so that they can achieve a high viral rating on the social network of choice. It doesn't matter if they go out in a blaze, so long as the video places at the top of the "Featured Videos" list on YouTube. Stupidity previously reserved for over-pampered movie stars and their handlers is now widely evident among the general population.
Perpetuation
The astounding query from the media has been: There were indicators of pending trouble. From acting on those indicators to locking down the campus after reports of the first shootings, why wasn't more done to prevent this from happening? Yet it is the media that knowingly plays right into the criminals' hands.
To whom did Seung-Hui Cho send his self-pardoning video rant? In it he expressed admiration for mutual murderers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. Even while expressing trepidation about airing the video, NBC excused itself by using police and talking heads to state that airing the video wouldn't harm the case and that it would help us "know what was in his head."
Now the next mass murderer will express his or her admiration for Cho along with Harris and Klebold. Thanks to modern communications technology, these two incidents which came packaged with murderous manifestos already have received more attention than all previous school-related manifesto-less incidents combined.
In summation, communication technology is not the cause of the problem. There clearly are non-technological social issues as well. But technology is a source of aggravation, dissemination and perpetuation. So where does the insanity end? In our own Matrix-like self-perpetuated demise?
