Stealing a March, or Just Plain Stealing

If anyone at this late date needs evidence that smart phones are making people stupid they need look no further than the latest crime fad in American cities. Brazen bicycle thieves have taken to targeting screen obsessed pedestrians who gaze blankly at their hand-held computers. The thieves simply wait until the victim is totally absorbed with the latest baby goat video and snatch the device while riding full speed past the unsuspecting browser. By the time the slow-witted screen junky is aware their toy is gone, the thief is blocks away peddling so fast you could play checkers on his coat tails.

In the past, did we see people so absorbed with a novel that they walked down the sidewalk reading a book? Not often, and there is a simple reason for this. Reading print takes concentration, time, and reflection. It is not easily done while in stride along the footpaths of the concrete jungle. But little snippets of text, spelled phonetically and abbreviated almost beyond comprehension to readers of real English, are exactly what the Information Scientists thrive on. Creating an entire generation of people who cannot spell, cannot compose a sentence, and cannot even pay attention is the goal of these electronic tyrants. It is not the thief on a bicycle that one must guard against, it is the thief of your memory.