Family columnist warns of 'electronic apocalypse' from online generation of electronics-addicted youth      ~ hehe the "future"  'humans'  & we wonder Y r kids r fucked UP !!!

by L.J. Devon, Staff Writer  http://www.naturalnews.com/z052406_electronic_addition_apocalypse_youth.html

(NaturalNews) Are we living in an electronic apocalypse and not even recognizing it as we text our way down the street, not noticing the people around us? Are we acting like zombies with our minds buried in our screens? In public, everyone is moving along fast, but do we really exist anymore? Are we really alive and free, interacting face to face? Where has the listening ear gone? Is all connection lost?

On Tim Lott's Family column on The Guardian news site, these concerns come to life. High-tech phones and social media platforms have interconnected people over long distances, but humanity's growing obsession and intoxication with the digital world is actually breaking real life bonds, destroying precious eye to eye contact.

We are losing empathy

Researcher Tim Lott longs for the days of old, describing the ugly reality that 21st century humanity is beginning to create. He wrote, "The physical apparatus we use to process the world is being re-shaped, and if we don't preserve what we once had, our very sense of being will shift permanently and irreversibly. The content of our digital lives is no longer an appendage to life -- it is reaching a point where it is life, in the sense that the imagination can conceive of nothing else."

In researching the problem, he found some startling statistics. For one, the average teenager now manages 4,000 text messages a month. Five years ago, the Kaiser Family Foundation found that adolescents from 8 to 18 years of age were spending seven hours a day on handheld devices and phones. Tim also made a startling connection in his research. In a compilation of 72 studies, he found that the current online generation had 40 percent lower levels of empathy than previous generations.

Indeed, throwing away human interaction for electronic communication is destroying the human ability to relate, to perceive, to understand one another, and to accomplish new things. Technology destroys the empathetic connections between people. The addiction to hand-held screens cuts off one's soul from the universe around him and the universe within him. Needing continuous partial attention also corrupts character, destroying human empathy for all living things.

"Human relationships now seem to be marked with what resembles a series of nervous tics -- phone tics, PC tics, tablet tics," wrote Lott.

He continues, "Where is the empty space into which we can climb in order to find ourselves? Not only are we losing its coordinates, a whole generation does not even know that it exists."

Three ways to break the addiction to handheld devices

Here are three methods I have been using to disconnect myself from technology, while reconnecting my spirit with people and my spiritual self.

Leave the house and take a walk in the woods, in the park, in the country. Take no device on your adventure. Take a spouse, a sibling, a friend, if you like.

Invite people over and plan activities that force people to forget their phones and tablets. Board games are great for creating that present moment, face-to-face interaction.

Turn the devices off and practice yoga and meditation, looking inward, reconnecting with self and becoming aware of the energy in your body, not the devices'.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.theguardian.com

Armed civilians save lives and reduce the number killed in mass shootings ... Citizens can respond in 10 seconds (cops take 10 minutes)

Monday, December 28, 2015 by: J. D. Heyes  http://www.naturalnews.com/052450_Gun_control_laws_self_defense_lives_saved.html
Tags: Gun control laws, self defense, lives saved

(NaturalNews) To hear the anti-Second Amendment Left tell it, carrying a firearm for protection – of one's self and of the lives of those around him or her – is a myth perpetuated by the NRA and other gun rights groups and firearm manufacturers.

Writing in the Huffington Post, "cartoonist and blogger" Walker Bragman's attempt to sully the truth and misrepresent the data was typical of a liberal hit job on the effect that guns really have in American society:

"John Lott Jr. and professor Gary Kleck, a criminologist, argue that guns are frequently used for self defense. These claims have also been debunked by peer review. A study by Philip J. Cook and Jens Ludwig titled 'Guns in America: National Survey on Private Ownership and Use of Firearms,' found that Kleck's defensive gun use numbers are 'far too high' to the point of suggesting bias, as are numbers by similar studies. The National Institute of Justice found that there is even an overestimation in Cook and Ludwig's study. Another study by the Berkley Media Studies Group found similar discrepancies with Kleck's and Lott's defensive gun use claims. According to the Harvard Injury Control Research Center a gun in the home is more likely to be used to commit suicide or to threaten or kill an intimate than used to deter an attacker."

Yes, guns do prevent crimes and death

Talk about study bias. Firstly, none of the sources Bragman utilized support the Second Amendment, and secondly, many of the claims the studies (and Bragman) attempt to make are done out of context or in an attempt to mislead. For instance, guns in the home are more likely utilized for suicide because firearms-related suicide deaths account for two-thirds of all firearm deaths each year. That kind of puts a different perspective on the data used by Bragman – doesn't it?

Also, he doesn't say that firearms are never used in self-defense; he merely claims that Kleck's figures are outsized (which is debatable given the study sources). So how can gun use in self defense figures be "debunked?"

In fact, according to a compilation of self-defense cases posted at the website Ammoland, use of firearms in self-defense is not only quite common, but they are often credited with dramatically limiting the carnage a bad guy (or gal) with a gun seeks to inflict on society. Cases in point:

-- John Hendricks of Chicago was driving his personal vehicle for Uber one evening, and had just dropped off a passenger, when he saw a man holler, draw a handgun and start shooting at a nearby crowd. In fact, one of the shooter's bullets struck Hendricks' vehicle, the Chicago Tribune reported. Hendricks pulled his own weapon, shot the armed assailant and called 911. When police arrived, Hendricks walked up to them with his hands raised and his concealed carry license in hand. There is no telling how many people he saved with that action.

-- In Portland, Oregon, a man was turned away from a nightclub and that apparently angered him. He returned wearing a mask and carrying a firearm, shooting one of the bouncers and two other people at the club, wounding one critically, as reported by KOIN. That night, Jonathan Baer was also working as a bouncer and, because he had a concealed carry license, was packing a handgun. He shot and killed the attacker (and was cleared of any wrongdoing by police). Soon after, police discovered multiple bags of varied ammunition, and hundreds of rounds loaded in several magazines that fit a semi-automatic Glock handgun. There is no telling how many more people the suspect was preparing to kill.

And so on. And while Left-wing anti-gun media regularly reports that such uses are "rare," they fail to report that in many cases, if an armed attacker is merely confronted by someone with a gun – where there are no shots ever fired – that is enough to end the confrontation and save lives.

Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention find firearms to be an "important crime deterrent."

Sources:

HuffingtonPost.com

ChicagoTribune.com

Koin.com

CNSNews.com

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/052450_Gun_control_laws_self_defense_lives_saved.html#ixzz3viMEntNA