The coming internet of things: life that evolves around you

A recent BBC article demonstrated how we are getting dumber as our tech gets smarter.

They referred to the tech in our lives as crutches...but not in a kind way.

Crutches that are making us less self-aware.

Crutches that make us stupid.

As we move towards a new version of the Inter-web, the Internet of Things, my prediction is that this is only going to get worse.

What will life be like when we don't even need to think about opening our own garage doors?

When lights, heat, AC all anticipate where we will be and adjust themselves to our needs.

When our tech goes into sleep mode when we walk out the door and boots back up when we return.

What will life be like when we don't feel...cold?

At what point do we not feel...anything?

If we can design the world to revolve around us, if we can avoid the feelings that cause us to change our environments, we will live increasingly unaware of our own experience of those very environments.

What might a future Internet of Things bring us?

Increased self absorption; decreased self-awareness.

And that, well, might just be ironic.

What do you think? Join the conversation and let me know below.

What Would Jesus Tweet?!

An interesting question was posed to me yesterday, wondering if I thought Jesus would use social media.

Hmm, good question. He certainly is all over the Internet already.

bradley howell

Though we don't have any evidence that Jesus himself wrote anything down, he consistently referred to and used the stuff of everyday life. Yes, I think its quite possible that Jesus would use social media as a way to connect with those in his relational circle.

So, what would Jesus tweet?

Who knows!

Whatever it is, it would embarrass his family. They would try to get an insanity order to take him off.

Jesus probably would not repost stories that implied if you were a real Christian who was not ashamed of your faith, you would pass this to everyone you know.

Instead he'd probably post: you have heard it said_______, but I say_________.

The religious establishment would likely try to use his own words against him.

After spending time alone in prayer, he would text Peter to send the boat over to pick him up. Then walk out to the middle of the lake just to freak him out.

The look on Peter's face would have made a perfect mobile pic status update! Judas would probably be the first to 'like' it.

He would probably turn his phone off when he was with other people, in prayer, or when it was just time to sleep.

He might enjoy videos of kids doing cute kid things.

I can imagine Jesus tweeting bits of the sermon on the mount. I don't imagine him taking a picture of 5 small loaves of bread and two fish with the post "Dinner for 5000".

Well, maybe if it had a cat in it...

What about you, do you think Jesus would use social media? What do you think Jesus would tweet?

Les Miserables...Larger Than Life

Les Miserables...larger than life - brad howell

I had the great opportunity to take in Les Miserables on Christmas Day. What an experience...at least I knew what I was in for. Others we brought with us...well, not so much.

Three minutes into the film, my sister leans over to me and asks if they will be singing the entire movie.

Yup, that's about how it works...sorry for the Wolverine bait and switch.

But as they say in the rest of the world, if not at least in France...C'est la vie!

A couple of decades ago I had seen the broadway style musical. Maybe it was my youth or maybe it was because all that I could afford was the cheap seats in the nose bleed section, but for the whole thing, I never knew what was going on. For all of these years I thought the good guys won. Didn't they in history?

The only thing I knew with any certainty was that things truly were miserable. Miserable for the hero...miserable for me...

For those of us that are theater challenged, the story line in the movie production is far easier to track. This truly is a good thing. But the movie version is far more gut wrenching. Its gritty, difficult at times to watch, and personally walks you through a truly horrible world experience. As for the singing...well its better than Momma Mia and if you can get past that every phrase is a lyric, the movie is well worth the extraordinarily long sit through.

Just remember the popcorn so you can blame tearing up on the salt...

This Year: Resolve to Text Your Teen More

As it stands, the teens in our household do not have texting on their phones. Our high schoolers get it from two angles. As a researcher of adolescent social media use, I don't necessarily want them growing up experiencing the cellphone as an extension of their friendship cluster. As an accountant, my wife sees no financial reason to do it.

brad howell

Poor kids - if they ever want to do anything, they pretty much have to pay for it themselves.

However - within boundaries - I do not believe teen texting is bad!

I actually think its a positive trend and a great way for teens to interact with each other when they are not physically present.

It certainly is less disruptive to the family than the days when teens would tie up a land line for hours on end.

Teens need the support that their friendships provide. Texting can be a healthy supplement to that. It works for parents too!

Almost every parent who texts their teens feels closer to them. The majority of teens who text with their parents in turn also feel closer to them.

Teens and parents feeling closer to each other? Sounds like a positive outcome for a counter-intuitive New Year's Resolution...

The Unanswered Question of Skyfall: Is James Bond Bisexual?

***SPOILER ALERT***

The latest Bond is loaded with all of the action you would expect it to be, but what you might not expect is an inference that 007 may have had a previous bisexual experience.

What are we supposed to make of that?

The villan of Skyfall uses overwhelming amounts of cyber technology to confuse, manipulate and dismantle the world of MI6. It is a form of sensory overload that seems quite effective at creating disruptive mayhem in the life of the English spy community.

For James Bond though, our perpetrator uses a very different form of sensory overload: homosexual eroticism. 

Chained to a chair, in submission to his captor, it seems that a hyper-heterosexual such as James Bond would come unglued by this type of torture - yet Bond side steps the advance with a simple question: "What makes you think this is my first time?"

This is an interesting social commentary.

The movie seems to suggest that we are easily overwhelmed by cyber technology, running in fear of those who seem intuitively capable of manipulating it for their own ends; in contrast, while homosexuality may still make some feel uncomfortable, we need not be afraid of this form of sensory overload - it has become common place...even in longstanding institutions such as the 50 year old James Bond franchise.

What do you think? Is this part of a systematic agenda to reframe human sexuality or the reflection of a culture that embraces various forms of sexual expression?

When To Make Sure You Say 'Goodbye' Online

© Rhphotos | Dreamstime.comBe

Among social media users, younger teens are the most likely to filter online interactions only from their own perspective of reality. They have little capacity to view life from another's shoes without being prompted to do so. Additionally, they use their new found Internet independence to gather positive interactions with people they know online - they are very in tune with whether interactions would suggest you like them or not. Consequently, more than anyone else in your SM network, younger teens are the most likely to get a sense that they have been ignored online. This seems to be especially true of younger females, but there are plenty examples of young men that are quick to send an IM the moment they see a green icon light up online and looking for affirmation from you.

Teens reaching out to you online is a great thing - it reveals that they value your relationship. Using social media to reinforce relationships with younger teens in your life is good for them - it helps build 'social capital' - an important ingredient on the journey to adulthood. The reason they view the interaction pretty much only from their definition of reality is because they are concrete thinkers. It goes with the territory. So, when the conversation needs to be wrapped up (and it would practically never end without a pop up video of a dancing kitten), it is an important practice to concretely end the conversation with a solid 'good-bye'.

And, for good measure, why not throw in an emoticon? Everyone loves to stick out their tongue when they get the chance...no?!

  

Want to Feel Closer To Your Teen? Text Them

© Stanislav Butygin | Dreamstime.com

One supporting area teens need to successfully transition from childhood to adulthood is a sense of closeness to emotionally encouraging adults - like parents for example. Feelings of closeness is about the strengths of bonds between parents and kids. Like all needs, closeness is rated from the perspective of the child, not the parent. To that end, research indicates that almost 2/3 of teens feel closer to their parents when they exchange text messages with them. That in itself is a pretty good reason to start adding text messages to your relational connection repertoire. For parents however, the number who feel closer to their teens when texting them jumps to 90%. That means almost every parent can feel closer to their teen by exchanging texts. Though no technological tool can replace a quality offline relationship, positive affirmation is always a good thing, and good things tend to replicate themselves.

So send a text to your kids today...just wait until they get out of school to do it - their teachers will thank you.