Technology Presses on, but at What Price?

I'm not the first to think or speak about how advances in technology have changed life--some for the better and some for the worse. I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't confess that I enjoy many of the things about which I speak, but moderation is the key.

Television, video games and computers enhance our lives, but at what cost to the generation beginning now to take the helm and their children? Even cell phones, many of which are now mini-computers, take their toll on developing social skills and face-to-face interpersonal relationships.

Take a look at play parks and family lawns. Do you see kids out doing the things you used to enjoy as a child? Many family neighborhoods look like ghost towns from a street view. There's not many kids outside running, jumping, or tossing balls--the simple things that built imaginations and kept today's breakfast from developing into a new extra pound on an increasingly obese generation.

I want to tell them to turn off the gadgets and experience living. A skinned knee or elbow is a small price to pay for play time in the outdoors. Moderation is the key; it's truly common sense.

Philadelphia School District Invades Students' Privacy

A Philadelphia school district has admitted to secretly photographing students from the laptops they borrowed from school. A district spokesman and the school's attorney confirmed that 56,000 images were captured and recorded, ostensibly to find missing computers.

The secret tracking program took pictures every 15 minutes, and the attorney said sometimes the program was turned on for months at a time.

So far one student has filed a lawsuit against the school district, alleging wiretap and privacy violations.

Shame on the school district. Missing computers may be an issue there (they haven't said to what extent), but the end does not justify the means. The lawyer asserts that none of the photos are "inappropriate," but in actuality, all of the photos are just that.