Letters to the Editor: Jennifer Horgan highlights the antisocial aspect of social media
Jennifer Horgan wrote: 'My mum, though limited in her mobility and well into her 70s, talks to her friends at length on the phone every day. My phone might be pinging but hers is actually ringing.' See link to Jennifer's article below. Picture: Dan Linehan
Jennifer Horgan ('Irish Examiner' Opinion, June 16) candidly queries her personal festering sense of loneliness despite her plethora of Whatsapp group memberships. She even quotes recent EU research on loneliness which reveals that Ireland has the highest levels of loneliness in Europe.
Despite the modern-day glut of communication conduits and devices, she illuminates that for real authenticity in the ‘loneliness-busting’ stakes, we’re fairly derelict. ‘Appiness’ has replaced happiness it seems. Thus, sanitised pseudo-communication exchanges are now at tsunami level, yet genuine wholesome and satisfying contact still eludes most folk.
The tech corporations have so much to answer for in this regard. Their voracious vending and promotional overkill of new gadgetry, unsought tech-templates of engagement and grotesque marketeering is a relentless neoplasm of negativity on societal mores.
All this, to say nothing of the weak and wanton levels of statutory regulation angled towards the common good.
People are being duped and manipulated into rarefied realms of ‘connecting’, wherein they can be processed and ‘cookied’ to extinction, constantly prostrate to the machination of the App-merchants and their ilk.
Discernment in the areas of cyber-connect wallowing and social-media gorging is virtually non-existent, with the huge majority of ‘appy-rappers’ lazily drowning in a sludge of ‘sham-ology’, pretence, camouflage, and dissemblage. The tech corporations and their Machiavellian machinations have so much to answer for in terms of their reckless and ravaging onslaughts. With few curbs on their avarice, people have to assiduously assert themselves ‘far from the madding’.
Of course the likes of Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerburg, Sundar Pichai and their ilk couldn’t give a tuppeny about any of this, as they plough over the human need for authentic empathic connectedness. After all, there’s lucre to be mined, ads to be sold, and opinions to be controlled. What a swizz! Welcome to today’s world of false narrative and authentic loneliness where vacuous, unwitting complicity thrives. The big-boys suppress and digress all and any dissent from the global collusion afoot. Where has all the face-to-face/voice-to-voice contact vanished to? Gone to ground, everyone.
“Ground control to Major Tom ... can you hear me Major Tom?”
When I was my mother’s carer, I was unable to socialise with anyone once it became a 24/7 occupation.
Like Jennifer Horgan, I was concerned about loneliness… but also the toil of caring. I drew up a list of about 30 friends and cousins, and phoned a different one every three nights when Mammy went to bed. Except for my two closest friends and a cousin (who I called more regularly), it meant I didn’t get back to anyone for about three or four months. This was the key: I didn’t place too much demand on more distant acquaintances.
I refer to your excellent coverage of the forum and by extension the possible change in our neutral status.
I specifically refer to the letter “Nato’s history does not inspire“ ('Irish Examiner', June 20) from the pen of Nuala Nolan.
As a soldier, I could not agree more with the content. It is right on the button.
Maintain our neutrality and build up our Defence Forces to give our country some credible status and effectiveness. Our Defence Forces are revered worldwide — sadly berated and humiliated by our own politicians and civil servants, who have starved it of it’s capacity to honour our country in the cause of world peace. The morale of our Defence Forces is at rock bottom and nobody in Government cares.
Why are the Brits defending our skies? Defence on the cheap!
Well done Leo. Well done Simon. Well done Micheál.
You will be credited forever with the destruction of a fine force.
I should state at the outset that I was never a fan of Michael D Higgins (apart from my naive youth when I agreed with his left wing mantra in magazine). However, his recent performance really takes the biscuit as I must have missed the part of the Constitution that says the President may invite the to hear him pontificate on a subject that he has no role in (bar he convenes the Council of State).
Quite apart from a spot of casual character assassination, El Presidente seems clueless as to the precedent he is setting with his ego tripping outbursts. Many of the opposition who are lauding him at present will be doing a dance should a future President express a right wing view, but will be informed that the precedent has been set.
Having gone back on his word not to seek a second term, our not so esteemed President should now do the decent thing and get off the stage before further embarrassing himself and the office he holds.
Those criticising President Higgins for expressing his views on the defence policy forum go on to fall over themselves praising the talents of Louise Richardson who was invited to chair the gig; one devotee going as far as to suggest that she is “one of the most talented people Ireland has ever produced”.
Given the obvious unease around this whole affair among many in the country, may I suggest that she might consider adding “ideal guest” to her long list of accolades — by staying at home?
It is interesting to note that neutrality forum chairwoman Louise Richardson has a record of publicly stated support for US foreign policy and stated her support for the invasion by the US of Afghanistan.
Given this level of bias, how can any report she produces be anything other than an endorsement of Nato and militarisation? One has to wonder why the government did not choose a “neutral” chair.
One, of course, must also wonder why people are still referring to the government events as “consultative” when the speakers are 5:1 against neutrality and there is no space for real engagement with the general public.
The acute phase of a covid infection may not be as severe for most as it was in 2020. Vaccines seem to have helped. Initial State/HSE response to the pandemic when the virus was poorly understood was swift and largely effective. Frontline medical staff were incredibly generous and brave, truly heroic.
Rollout of vaccines was efficient. What happened next was not.
We know sars-cov-2 is an airborne virus. We understand exactly how it is transmitted. Yet many obvious cheap/easy public health measures were dropped or simply never implemented.
The key to keeping us well and safe is to clean the air (HEPA filters, ventilation, CO2 monitors as proxy measure of air quality). Avoid inhaling covid viruses by wearing FP3 masks in crowded spaces, washing hands and proper coughing and sneezing etiquette. Be smart about vaccination and boosters.
Large international studies have shown that the RNA vaccines such as Pfizer & AZ are not great at generating long term immunity and not so good with several omicron variants. Novavax is a protein-based vaccine and very good at delivering long lasting immunity and protection against new variants (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciimmunol.adg7015).
So far the Irish Gov response to ‘Pandemic Declared Over’ seems like a return to business as usual with no thought or contingency for ongoing infection events.
An estimated 10% of those who get covid will develop long covid and risk rises steeply with every reinfection. Those with long covid are often so disabled they are unable to attend school, work, caring duties.
For the sake of all that is good, could we not simply use a bit of caution, keep the air as clean as possible, mask when needed and could we get enough Novavax shots to help prevent more covid cases.
I’m a life-long Tipperary hurling fan exiled in Athlone, Co Westmeath. As the Offaly v Tipperary hurling match on June 17 was not shown free to air on RTÉ, I decided to buy a ticket for the game. As the GAA no longer take money at the stiles, I searched the Athlone for a SuperValu and Centra ticket outlet but to no avail. I subsequently travelled to in Moate, to purchase my ticket.
Two hurling preliminary quarter-finals this week-end, one is pay-per view on GAAGO, the other is not shown at all. I can only concur with Donal Óg Cusack when he says “hurling deserves better”.
