Too reliant on technology? No kidding. How well do we utilize it? Uhh...

Article Link -- Trapped girls update Facebook instead of calling cops

Sooo... I won't bother with summarizing this too much.

[From Australia]

Two girls were in a state of emergency who were in need of rescue. Typically, one would simply take out their phone and dial 911 (in this case 000 for Australia) to notify the authority that they need help. How they went about in doing this, however, was somewhat pecicular.

Rather than directly calling the authorities to call for rescue, they used the popular social network 'Facebook' to call for aid. How? The two girls, ages 10 and 12, updated their Facebook status in hopes that one of their friends would notice and call the authorities for them.

Now, Let's stop right there shall we?

Let's face it, the WHOLE global community is drowning in the sea of technology. Blowdryers, phones with bluetooth, TVs with WiFi, cameras with knives or lasers, and so forth. (We get the picture). The point is that our ability to mass relay information and our means to communicate with others has the same difficulty as that of putting the toilet seat up (maybe that was a bad analogy).

After reading the blog/article, one would easily come up with a simple: Why did the girls decide to notify the authorities in that form of manner? Hell, I sure did right after reading the first few sentences. Have they (speaking to the newer generation here) become so reliant on the new forms of technological advances and features, that they forgot that a phone can actually STILL CALL PEOPLE?! You know that function, where you press the buttons to dial out numbers instead of words, and by doing so you are connected to a person/business that owns the number.

If they (the girls) would had just called the authorities versus SMSing it to Facebook, the fire department would had a better reaction time in resolving the emergency. Oh sure, they're safe and sound, but how they went about it just baffles me! And believe me, it takes a good deal to baffle a simple minded guy.

Glenn Benham from the [Metropolitan Fire Service in Adelaide, Australia] says it was fortunate a young friend was online at the time and was able to call for help for them.

“It is a worry for us because it causes a delay on us being able to rescue the girls,” he said.

“If they were able to access Facebook from their mobile phones, they could have called 000, so the point being they could have called us directly and we could have got there quicker than relying on someone being online and replying to them and eventually having to call us via 000 anyway.”

I for one, definitely agree with the firefighter who gave this quote. The whole situation itself produces a big concern for today's society. Knowing that practically everyone on this world is so technology-reliant, we are coming to a point where certain functionalities and utilities of a gadget is being overshadowed by a very-rampart (and very popular) service, that we would rather stake our lives on A SOCIAL NETWORK rather than directly speaking with PROFESSIONAL people that are TRAINED to deal with situations that are dangerous, hazardous, and life-threatening...

Good use of the 911 (000 for AUS), that's for damn sure...

Yep, that's one hell of a social problem in my opinion.

BUT! But. One can make the argument that alternative forms of communications can be essential to safety, if by all other manners of communication are cut off. Being a tech-geek myself, I actually find the idea very interesting and reliable IF maintained and supervised properly... Of course everything else is on the user's end. The Safe America Foundation has reported its collaberation with the goverment for the promotion and collaboration of the system. This Atlanta-based organization. Apparently they've already had their share of this methodology recently:

As Mashable points out, this isn’t the first time someone has used a social network to call for help. In May, an Atlanta city councilman was worried his mobile phone battery might die and posted to Twitter instead of calling the cops about a woman he found in distress. Mashable says he posted this message:

“Need a paramedic on corner of John Wesley Dobbs and Jackson st. Woman on the ground unconscious. Pls ReTweet”.

Atleast here, the circumstances called for the councilman to act in such a manner as to relay the situation in the most effecient manner. Very good thinking I must say. The only reason why I don't argue this scenario to be the same as the girls' is based on some factoring variables during their situations. Time was definitely of the essence for both distresses, but like stated, many circumstances definitely factored in for both emergencies.

But when we really think about it all in simple terms...

It's very depressing to find that young adults (including my generation) and the newer generations are all about the 'HEAR AND NOW'. There is a sense of need for attention, and the constant search for what is to be the 'newer black' tech (this even applies to fashion, living style, and many more). But, our practical use of these gadgets, tools, media outputs, and social networks have definitely strayed from the path... That's for damn sure.

• -- Myspace Bulletin Surveys -- What the hell is the purpose of these?
• -- Facebook Applications -- Do I really need to know how many people I killed in Mafia Wars?
• -- Twitter -- I don't feel like telling people when I go to the restroom.
• -- Fox News -- It's not news.
• -- C-Span -- Yes, let's hear Congress talk about the upcoming even of a birthday party hosted by their family.
• -- MTV -- MUSIC Telivision. And yet, here I am, watching said channel, only to find women nag to other women about how they stole their 'man'. Real World is NOT MUSIC. Put on some Journey... or Axel Rose. What's up with this reality TV bull****?!

Myspace and Facebook has really lost its originality with all these added features. Social networking was all about keeping in contact with long-distance friends, finding old friends, and keeping up with the local community (events, bands, etc). The same concept applied to Facebook - which originally was a social network for College Students only, has become an app-infested website to play Tetris or to build a farm in (oh wait, I do that, crap...). But I am proud to say that I still use it for its true purposes (most of the time).

How does this relate to the two girls stuck in the sewer? The ability to text and update FB statuses on the fly really represents not only our reliance on technology, but our lack of common sense to use them effeciently. I'm not considered age here either just from the fact that they are already are using social networks at such a young age when I myself started at 17... Yeah.

Ok losing train of thought and ability to form sentences.

I leave a picture of... How I feel (most of the time) about society as a whole:

End Ranting Transmission --