Tea at Trianon: Technology: The New Addiction

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, June 15, 2020

Technology: The New Addiction

From a couple years ago at the USNI:

It is estimated that by the 1950s, 45 percent of adult Americans smoked tobacco. The percentage of smokers was much higher within the Sea Services, particularly during and immediately after World War II. Cancer was identified as one of the risks of smoking cigarettes by the 1960s, a public health campaign informed Americans of the risk, and today the number of adults who smoke is roughly 22 percent of men and 18 percent of women. With the available research, it is hard to fathom that smokers overlooked the consequences of tobacco use for so long—and continue to do so.2

Similarly, just as research has been conducted on the effects of tobacco usage, studies currently are being done on the power of addiction (to include internet addiction) and its ways of working throughout the human body. For addictive or intense personalities, some of the most seemingly innocuous pastimes may become detrimental.

Ownership of a smartphone is considered a necessity today. But the various associated gaming platforms and social media interfaces create a distraction that can lead to significant problems for users. Social media usage is growing in parallel with smartphone ownership in the United States, and it has become extremely prevalent, particularly with younger generations. The problem is not a single app, device, or game, but the amount of time users spend (or feel the need to spend) online.

A recent study suggested that 78 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 use the social media app Snapchat, with a sizable majority of users (71 percent) using the platform multiple times a day.3 While social media platforms are popular among sailors, other personal technology platforms such as YouTube, video games, and online pornography have similar statistics and are just as time consuming. While the experiences may seem harmless to the user, there are consequences. (Read more.)