The Internet

    

     How do we deal with the effects of the Internet?

     I helped build it over the last 25 years with thousands of other people by installing routers in offices which connected networks large and small via telephone lines. We started before broadband was being offered by cable television companies and The Cloud simplified and automated the once crude process of connecting to the Internet. I used to my tell the customers who were curious as to what we were doing that I believed that the Internet would bring people together. Now I believe the truth is that the Internet drives us further apart!

      That's the question of our age.

     Our classrooms were heading in this divisive direction even before the pandemic, with each student in their own virtual space as well as going to brick and mortar buildings. Online learning was a fact of life as homework assignments and teacher conferences could be done anytime and anywhere. This was both a convenience and a necessity as both parents had to leave the home for work to make ends meet.

     Now in July 2020 we have the added uncertainty of whether to send children back to school buildings on a regular basis. We all know them to be germ factories in the best of times, but the Covid-19 virus makes this an even more chilling prospect. The younger the children the more concern we have to have as they need direction, unlike most teenagers and college students who prefer to figure things out on their own. My only suggestion is that we need to first admit our mistake, that we opened too soon. Then we need to do a better job of testing and tracing the people who are infected. All concerned need to do a better job with online learning, parents, students, teachers, and administrators. It would also be very helpful to have our federal government leading, instead of telling the states to figure things out on their own. We don't tell states to determine their own standards for bridges and highways, why would ever think that the health of our country would be any different? We are these United States of America and we have to assert our belief that we are stronger and healthier when we work together, rather than when we compete with one another and attempt to divide the benefits. My two cents. Peace.