\n\t \n<\/p>\n
\n\tI had to laugh at the item in March What's On ‘Living Without Facebook'. I love reading and it reminded me of some paragraphs that had jumped out at me.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tI have recently re-read JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, first published in three parts in 1954-55. Every time I read it something new always surprises me and this time it was a short paragraph which brought to mind our modern focus on ‘seeing' news through social media, being kept informed by sound and video bites on mobile phones and i-pads. Some of the Fellowship of the Ring were returning to the Shire after the One Ring had been destroyed and the Dark Lord had been defeated. Pippin, the Hobbit, had earlier had a bad, frightening, dangerous experience looking into a Seeing Stone (a Pallantir) and seeing the evil eye of Sauron. In spite of that experience, he still yearned for<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\t“ a Stone that we could see all our friends in, and .. We could speak to them from far away".<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tThis seems to be 50 years ahead of it’s time, yearning for the powers of Skype, Facebook, Snapchat etc. But Pippin's earlier bad experience of naively using the seeing stone without parental or any other access controls also foretold the pitfalls and risks.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tI have also been reading a 2014 book by Orlando Fires- a History of Revolutionary Russia 1891 – 1991. In these days news is spread by social media wild fires so it was interesting to read this in relation to the year 1916. Russia was transitioning from the Tsar’s autocracy, through the first world war and deprivation, into the dictatorship of the Bolshevik Communist Party. A resident of the then capital Petrograd was quoted.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\t“ Rumours filled the lives of all inhabitants. They were believed more readily than the newspapers….The public was desperate for information, for almost anything, on political subjects, and any rumour was bound to spread like wildfire. What gave these stories their power and significance was how far they accorded with the general mood and with previous rumours that had shaped that mood. Once a rumour, however fake, became the subject of common belief, it assumed the status of fact, informing the attitudes and actions of the public. All revolutions are based in part on myth.”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tThis seems to be 100 years ahead of it’s time when seen against the backdrop of social media frenzies, of anti-austerity momentum, of the disease of trumptweets and fake news, of the revolutions against established norms that seem to be commonplace.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tLastly, and more up to date is Dan Brown's Origin, 2017. One of his characters is sad because<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\t‘What had been life's quiet moments of solitary reflection – a few minutes alone or on a train, or walking to work, or waiting for an appointment, could no longer be borne. People impulsively reached for their phones, their ear buds, their games, unable to fight the addictive pull of technology. The miracles of the past are fading away. Whitewashed by a ceaseless hunger for all-that-is-new sound and video bytes.”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tSpanning over a hundred years, these quotes show that technology may change, but human behaviour adapts more slowly. On a lighter note, for many years I thought that the textspeak acronym LOL stood for Lots of Love. Finally I was educated that it stands for LAUGH OUT LOUD. Thank goodness I still can do just that…..<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\tAyJay<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\t <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I had to laugh at the item in March What's On ‘Living Without Facebook'. I love reading and it reminded me of some paragraphs that had jumped out at me. I have recently re-read JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, first published in three parts in 1954-55. Every time I read it something new always surprises me and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[228],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-19e","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14184,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14184","url_meta":{"origin":4416,"position":0},"title":"Success at Crufts","author":"Alan Williams","date":"9th April 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"SUCCESS AT CRUFTS I\u2019m sure many people reading this will have at some point spotted my wife Carolyn, either walking around the village or over the playing fields training her three border collies. She competes at the highest level of Dog Obedience in the UK. Last month she was again\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Readers Articles of Interest"","block_context":{"text":"Readers Articles of Interest","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=228"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Picture10.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4211,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=4211","url_meta":{"origin":4416,"position":1},"title":"The Internet and Social Media","author":"Alan Williams","date":"27th January 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Growing up in an age of social media makes it all the more sad when people abuse their followings. Recently, a YouTube personality named Logan Paul uploaded a vlog where he was walking through Suicide Forest in Japan. I\u2019m sure many of you would have heard by now about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Play Hard Work Hard"","block_context":{"text":"Play Hard Work Hard","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=274"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=36","url_meta":{"origin":4416,"position":2},"title":"Police Beat","author":"Wenvoeadmin","date":"28th October 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Last month we reported that we were to have a new PCSO for the Wenvoe area. Look out for him and make him welcome. As some of you know I\u2019m PCSO Owain Grandin. I am the new Police Community Support Officer for the Wenvoe area. I would just like to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Police Beat"","block_context":{"text":"Police Beat","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=6"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/FP7.png?fit=500%2C200&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8110,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=8110","url_meta":{"origin":4416,"position":3},"title":"My Trip To Tanzania","author":"Alan Williams","date":"14th August 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"My Trip To Tanzania Hi! Hope everyone\u2019s well. Just wanted to say a thank you once again to everyone that supported me in the run up to my trip to Tanzania. I came back a month earlier than planned because of the current situation with Covid 19, however the month\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5701,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=5701","url_meta":{"origin":4416,"position":4},"title":"Girls Like You","author":"Alan Williams","date":"1st April 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Girls Like You Blogging about International Women\u2019s Day has become almost tradition at this point. You may think it odd that I continue to celebrate this day every year though it\u2019s not considered an international holiday. But every year, International Women\u2019s Day exemplifies the importance of positive reinforcement for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11571,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=11571","url_meta":{"origin":4416,"position":5},"title":"Wise Advice From JFK","author":"Alan Williams","date":"4th May 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"What Can We Do? \u201c \u2026 while the sun is shining!\u201d \u201cThe time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining\u201d [State of the Union Address January 11 1962] - John F. Kennedy Wise advice from JFK who used this saying to introduce a programme of spending that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Forum"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Forum","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=384"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Picture6.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4416"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4416"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4417,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4416\/revisions\/4417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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