Definitions | Tracks In The Dust

Archive for the tag “Definitions”

16 Oct 2013

Too Much Information

Too much information!

Back in my childhood I remember the evening newspaper landing on the front porch every night. My dad would come home from work, kick off his shoes, sometimes make up a cocktail and read the paper. When I got interested in what they used to call “current events” I was watching TV.

Even in my youngest days the biggest news would show up on the airwaves and most of the public would watch it. After all, we had 3 national networks to choose from. You had a choice who you liked, who you trusted. Assassinations, moon landings. war’s on TV, protesters, politicians, national news and local news all came through the TV screen on one of the few channels the airwaves could send our way.

Things have changed. We get our information in such a different way. My grown children don’t even own a connection to a TV source. No antenna, no cable. They get their news from the Internet. Though the smartphones and the computers they have in their hands. Portable. Anywhere. That is the great part of the “information age” .

But now those 3 channels have turned into a multitude of options. The newspapers are shuttering their doors, the TV channels that had been so robust in reporting the news are now full of talking-heads who are spouting their opinions on any topic that will sell more commercials and make people who think the same way happier.

So here we are on the Internet. There is an endless source of information on the world-wide web. But that has made the news have a thousand alternate versions. A view-point becomes a fact, a fact becomes distorted, a picture tells a thousand words but the words don’t match the picture. The photos are photo-shopped, and the captions frequently don’t match the event. The world is instantaneous. News from the other side of the world can show up on your iPad less than 30 seconds after the event. Two minutes later you can read the view points of every one who wants to declare their position.

So its TMI. Too Much information. There doesn’t seem to be a “filter” at all. It is going to keep coming and we all have to make the best of it.

That is what can make blog-posts on WordPress exciting. Connected people can make a difference. It is what we can all do since we are inter-connected human beings from all over the world. We can verify that the entire world isn’t going down in flames. There are a lot of things we all have in common. It is the goodness of the information age. It is our chance to remove the filter and understand each other. I am thankful for that. Hope you are too.

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Acceptance, Definitions, Information Age, moments, Newspaper, Opinions, Television, Too Much Information, tracks in the dust, We Are Connected, Who Are You

07 Oct 2013

Contradiction

We all get them… There are a lot of mixed messages in today’s’ world.

A lot of it is the fact that we live in the “information age” I think. It happens all around us. No matter what we see or hear, there seems to be a question of reality. We read news, we track social networks, we watch media provide up to the minute real-time events in our living room.

What we see can sometime contradict what we believe is true, and still we may tend to deny what our eyes are seeing.There are other times we see or read something, that won’t validate what we want to believe so we will dismiss it. It contradicts our beliefs and then we are not going to accept the evidence.

There are a lot of people who outwardly say sincerely that they care about people and causes. But their actions contradict that. They follow their religious or personal philosophies, but only when it fits in their lives. Like the message of LOVE and the practice of HATE. They may be saying that people “in need” should be helped, but shouldn’t help them in any way even if they are provided many opportunities. I guess almost all of us need to work harder all the time to focus on people in-need.

It is easy to say and do things that don’t make sense to everything else in our lives. It can be the principle of the moment and long-term it doesn’t play out. But there are many times I think I need to stop and review what is “in-coming” in my life and make sure I am convicted to the “outcome” – and not contradict myself. Does that happen in your life, too?

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Change, choices, Contradiction, Definitions, Information Age, Intentions, Kindness, Memories, Philosophy, Postive Thinking, Reality Check

01 May 2013

The Trust May Be Gone, But Keep the Faith

Recalling a “time of trust” in our world, things have seemed to change.

In the old days we would believe sales people at our local stores, we would rely on news from the network TV newscaster to see a window to the world from a trusted person we let into our living room. Even more so , in the days gone by we would believe our politicians.

Were we naive in the old days? Very likely we were not worldly enough because our perspective was contained inside a smaller circle – local stores, one newspaper, 3 TV stations to choose from. Perhaps we were stronger by faith itself.

It seems like that has changed. Have we just learned our lessons over time and got smarter? Or likely we have gotten just more jaded?

We have lost faith in our politicians – ( in the US that really happened in the early 70’s with the Watergate scandal I think) I know many of us couldn’t imagine some of our past US Presidents being under the scrutiny they are today and coming out as unscathed as they had in the past. These days the news media, the social media has started with the premise of dis-trust. And in a matter of seconds the trust (or lack of it) shoots into the ether-web and becomes someone else’s truth.

Today I couldn’t imagine taking an order to buy a high tech device or an appliance simply on the recommendation of the 20 yr old in the big-box store. That itself as led to the demise of so many of the retailers this past decade.

Today I couldn’t imagine just believing everything you read just because it was in-print or accept the news – like back in the days when the US landed on the moon… Walter Cronkite said “that’s the way it is”. Yet it seems in some ways people still do believe way too much of what they read on Internet- listening to extremes from so many talking heads who have no perspective on facts or truth- then they even write books about it.

Then roll all of this up this with our society’s ever decreasing attention span, and layer in the endless amount of choices we are exposed to – and throw that into the sea of anonymity. For many… top it off with the lack of spiritual faith- in-something- bigger leaves so many with no trust, faith or foundation in the Truth. It has left way too many people as distrusting skeptics; with each other, with our leaders, with the information we are presented every day we seem to view the world as hopeless. It is truly not, we need to keep the faith!

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life and tagged Acceptance, Belief, Change, choices, Definitions, Faith, Fear, God, Media, Opinion, Reality Check, Sprituality, Trust

08 Apr 2013

Roll Call

We do this thing from time to time in our family and with our closest friends.

It’s “roll call” time for blogger buddies. Checking in to see that everything is okay today and where your head is at.

So ROLL CALL!

Let’s have some fun.

3 Questions

Who is ” now playing” on your digital music player (iPod) ?

Mine: Little Black Dress (Group from Dallas, TX) and Air Review (also from Dallas, TX) and The Album Leaf

What is the last movie you watched that you enjoyed and thought was worth the time it took to watch it?

Mine: Just finished watching Charade with Cary Grant/Audrey Hepburn (still holds up great for a movie from 1963)

Who wrote the last book you read, and what was it?

Mine: Under the Dome by Stephen King – long book but finally put aside the time to read it (1000+ pages).

YOUR TURN! Roll Call?

Posted in Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged choices, Dallas Music Scene, Definitions, entertainment, Favorite Music, Movies, Music, Opinion, Rock music, Stephen King, Under the Dome

18 Feb 2013

2 Comments

Okay… New Rule

There was a time when it was easy to know all the rules. There was the golden rule, the simple rules that made up the rules of “etiquette” that Miss Manners would teach us. They were a guide to how to react, how to look at things. How to make sure that others felt comfortable with you and who/what you were.

But these days no rules seem to be the rule. The more you can shock someone, the more you can be out of the normal trend of things – the more people may notice you. And it may not be because you did something good, it may be quite the opposite. Be shocking enough or do something that will make people be “aghast” with the way you did it. In popular culture that means you will get noticed, you will be part of the buzz or covered on TMZ or tabloid shows on television. You will show up on some magazine as the “newest” thing.

In these days it seems that it means it has to be notched up. In order to get attention above the normal for this week, one needs to be out-of-bounds even farther than those before us. Of course to make it all work you have to add the Internet. Just do it on YouTube and have it be viral and you will be a star for next week.

It’s like being “change junkies”, even our youth here in the US are thriving on the difference. That seems to have always been the thing…but the notches have turned up higher than before. The shear out-of-bounds rules of the 50’s when kids came to school with blue-jeans on (dungarees) and people were struggling with hair cuts and music. The rules were also changing then for the youth. Now they have become so much more accelerated don’t you think? How can our youth out-do the popular culture which is coming at us all 24/4 on any URL you wish to Google.

So we end up heading toward the potential for a more complicated life. Like working hard to keep track of the “new-rules.” If we are going to be sure we are aware of them, it could prove to be not so simple. All of the media around us and our children’s peer groups screaming it.

My advice to my kids: Be aware of the new rules, but keep it simple. That is going to be my motto too. Just take it one day at a time, understand that you don’t have to make things be bigger, louder, meaner, faster, or on the fringe. Take care to understand the rules will change, and change is good… but don’t let those rules rule you. You can stay in control of things with the simple rules and let that drive your spirit with the power and grace.