Aloha Kākou. I admit, I’m addicted to my devices. I cannot live without the constant source of information being pumped into my glass slab device that torments me, endlessly, to view the contents it received. Endorphins swarm in my mind with satisfactory stimulation followed by the emotional effects of the data received. But this stimuli is fleeting and short lived. Which is why so many spend time staring at a glass slab waiting for the next update to arrive.
The shear joy of getting lost in a book is beyond any glass stimulant with its colors and flashing averts. Just the text of black type over white paper with words that reach out to stimulate the mind with colors in the imagination. Colors only found in deep slumber dreams and in the twilight of lucidity. That imaginary place where the mind plays tricks with your conscience. Oh how a beautiful place and how a nightmare dreams might be. Books bring a higher level of gratification. Books are not ephemeral as social media tends to be.
Unlike books, social media and the information, or disinformation, it brings to the mind is selective, parsed, and often censored by the Tech Giants. Much like how information is approved by communist state control media, the Tech Giants route information either towards the reader, or away. Thus denying the reader the ability to review and decide what information is useful to make decisions.
The glass slabs do have their uses. Communication was the beginning. Making phone calls and sending text messages. making notes and reminders on calendars. The ability to get directions anywhere in the world. Ordering products online and exploring a catalog of items for purchase and review. Getting real-time weather and radar images. Emergency notifications. It isn’t all unsocial media, although for many that’s all they use their devices for.
The sophistication of these glass slabs also allow for those moments to be captured in pictures and videos. For those moments you can share with others. The average individual with a glass slab can become a movie director, a voyeur, a journalist capturing the moment.
Maybe we can never go back before the glass slabs. To return to reading a book, a newspaper, a pamphlet, and just turn off the electronics. But the reality is we need this in a ever increasing dangerous world. But I suppose it’s a lot like being addicted to television. Watching mindless programs of soap operas, reruns of Judge Judy, and like me that watches news programs that repeat the stories, program after program.
A few years ago, 2014, when tropical storm Iselle hit the island, electricity was off for days. Luckily I had a generator to keep the refrigerator running, plus the television and lights on. There was some cell phone service and updates from Civil Defense over the radio. The generator ran during the day for a couple of hours, and up until the evening when I wasn’t going to need to use the refrigerator, lights and television. At night I would sit on the my lanai and watch the stars. Listen to the sounds in the night before bed.
My friends from Onomea tell me in the old days when electricity went out for hours and days, people went outside in the evening. Tiki Torches were lit and people gathered in concentric circles by the ocean to talk story, dance hula, and share food they were preparing for the evening. Everybody knew everybody in the small village of Onomea. It’s still like that today.
Hurricane Linda strengthened slightly overnight Wednesday as it continued its march toward the Hawaiian Islands. The tropical cyclone is forecasted to pass north of the Hawaiian Islands as a post-tropical gale late Sunday into Monday.
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Today started with cloudy skies and passing showers. Tradewinds are from the east at 8mph with gusts at 21mph. Cloud cover is 47%. Visibility is 10 miles. We got just under a 1/4 inch (15/64) precipitation in the rain gauge overnight. Temperatures are in the mid 70’s. Humidity is at 87%. Barometric pressure is 30.00 inches and dewpoint is 71 degrees. UV index is 12.
ʻAukake ‘Umi Kūmāwalu, 2021
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E Māua Ola i Moku o Keawe 