Computeritis & Jules Vern

There's an irony to this disease that seems to have plagued my family the last few years. Computers are suposed to free us up; shorten our lists; and help us to become more efficient in our lives. Why is it that we spend so much more time on them typing in our lists to our calendars on yahoo, aol, and msn than we ever would have just jotting down that appointment on a wall calendar? Can we take our computers everywhere with us and have access to that information? This really isn't a good point for my family...four of us have laptops....but, in theory, it works. I mean, how cumbersome would it be to have to turn on the computer, log in, and manuver around to their right site...and what if there is no wireless signal? We are out of luck.
I was mentioning to a gal that I really need to get off my computer more and spend more time reading, doing my devotions, and just "being", and she agreed. It is an addiction. You can't just type in that appointment. There are a bazillion other interesting hooks out there trying to grab our attention. It's worse than that huge menancing octopus from Jules Vern's, 20,000 Leagues. For those of you have never read this novel, it's NOT about baseball, football, or any other ball. One member of my family has desicribed the inet as a "never ending vortex containing multitudes of successive black holes collapsing upon one another".. I bet you can guess which child described the inet in this manner.
So, in my attempt to be less distracted by the computer, I am going to post once in the morning before I check my emails, and then I will stay off the computer all day until all school work is completed by everyone.
I live with the fear that the computer will replace human interaction and am certain that to a degree, it already has. Just take our local high school as an example;
The high school here has given each and every student a laptop to use and take home for the year. They have done this for three years now....and....guess what? Academics have fallen dramatically, test scores have plumeted, drug use is up, and there are 48 girls pregnant up there....all in a small school of about 800-900 students. Something is WRONG here. Bob and I sat down last night with a great friend, Fred Deutsch (Stephanie's dad) who is running for a spot on the school board and spoke at length about the problems I have mentioned. He has been told by the administration that the current ninth grade class is by far the worse that they have ever seen. Test scores of these students are the lowest in the state, so their solution is to isolate the ninth graders into their own wing of the high school and bring in a separate adminstrator and actually have an academy within the school specifically for the incoming freshmen. Sounds like a good plan. But will this solve the problems. I think not. Fred also told us that he met with a teacher up at the high school to talk about the concerns of the teachers and he was told that whenever Frad's name is brought up that there is fear of him getting on the board because he is "a man of faith". I really wish whoever made this statement would look at the very problems that public schools are facing. It isn't the laptops that are causing the problems...it's a lack of faith. Dugh! Even I get that! Surely they see the connection. Maybe they have bought into the bag of lies about keeping God out of the schools...we've tried that for years and it only gets worse. So.. if you are sending your kiddos off this morning, please say an extra prayer for them. If you have no children, please say a prayer for those of us who do.
Well, that's all for now. This octopus isn't getting me!