Florence Snyder
Cellphones are here to stay, and so, it seems, are the staggeringly stupid things we do with them.
Facebook fiascos are infinite in variety now that people of limited impulse control have a high-powered computer at their 24/7 command. It’s a problem for people of all ages, and from all walks of life.
Not for the first time this week, a Florida public official is wearing egg on his face for Facebooking While Biased Against Muslims. State Rep. Sam Killebrew offered this jolly joke to his fans and followers: “Liberals are acting like (President-elect Donald) Trump is going to kill all the gays, make slavery legal again, and take away women’s rights. Did he become a Muslim?”
As night follows day, right-thinking people took offense and Killebrew returned to Facebook to issue an “if you were offended” non-apology.
At age 71, Killebrew is probably beyond understanding why not everybody thinks he’s Central Florida’s answer to Mark Twain. But there’s hope for the kids, and St. Johns County is working hard to help them understand that the internet is an unforgiving place with a long and photographic memory.
Seventy-three percent of American teenagers have a smartphone, and 100 percent of them have brains that will not be fully developed until they are well into their 20s. It makes for a lot of heartache and aggravation in St. John’s County, where Sheriff’s Lt. Mike Strausbaugh clocks a lot of hours trying to educate kids about the consequences of uploading while clueless.
Long before Donald Trump cyberbullied his way to the White House, tech-savvy teenage Eddie Haskells were honing their skills at hounding the helpless. Sometimes, the kid who is told to “go kill yourself” really does. After a bit of community soul-searching, parents return to sleeping with their smartphone, and letting their children do the same.
Schools, youth groups, and cop shops everywhere are spending ungodly amounts of time cleaning up the messes caused by young’uns armed with Apples and Androids. The genie is out of the bottle, and all the Lt. Strausbaughs in the world can’t put it back.
