It’s a surreal WTF moment. In a gathering of Silicon Valley “technorati” in Palo Alto, California yesterday to “dole out advice” on “job creation,” Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg emphasised the need for “better education” to “foster growth, competitiveness, innovation, and job creation.” Sounds good so far. But then she lets out these doozies:
Sandberg talked about what can be done to get more women in particular into high-tech jobs, such as giving girls more time with computers from an early age. “Let your daughters play video games,” she told an audience comprised of educators, entrepreneurs and investors.
Just what parents need: advise from more “social media” experts — no less than the COO of Facebook herself — on the merits of further immersing ourselves in this digital universe and, presumably, breeding future denizens of an already vast network of narcissists and 15-minute celebs. An early introduction into that world will work wonders for the psyche of the average eight-year-old girl, I’m sure. Heeding Sandberg’s words is like taking pharmaceutical advise from a drug dealer.
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These guys are on fire. The other night, I heard out an impassioned plea from social media “practioner” Tonyo Cruz on how the Philippine Government’s Commission on Higher Education (CHED) had all but become the local “village idiot” for failing to embrace the “Twitterverse.” Yes sirrree. Becoming a tweep, it seems, is vital to breathing in the 21st Century if we are to believe these “experts.” Now we have no less than the COO of the Borg itself telling us to let loose our daughters in The Social Network.
Holy conflict of interest, Batman!
Scariest of all is the fact that these Silicon Valley “technorati” will be meeting with US President Barack Obama in a few months to present their recommendations.
It’s high time that some long overdue perspective be introduced to the din of two-bit “advise” on the merits of embracing the “digital culture” being dished out by the “wired elite” over the increasingly pervasive “social media” channel they are so beholden to. Marketing a for-profit businesses like Facebook for its entertainment value is one thing. But presuming to push it into aspects of living that fall outside discretionary use of time and into living essentials is just plain wrong. The above examples highlight the dangers of delegating our thinking to people with agendas.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
it’s the end of the world as we know it…
Your uninformed blabber is just the kind of thing Juan Williams–author of “Muzzled”– (proving with accurate research and informed reasoning) blames for the loss of calm, objective and productive discussion between opposing views in this country. Compromise is not a dirty word, and “politicaliy correct” talking points will never replace logic.
Perhaps. But then you fail to make a point in your above comment nor articulate your own opinion on the matter. What *specifically* about what I say above is “uninformed” and what *specific* part of it do you disagree with?
The next generation is becoming “Bionic”…their minds and body are being fused with those electronic gadgets.A nephew of mine cannot even do manual addition, without a calculator…are we getting better, or worse with those electronic gadgets?
Technology did extend our reach at a certain point, but we ended up relying into it way too much.
Just like George Carlin said, take out electricity of the entire world for three weeks and we’d see humanity crumble back into the dark ages.