Dear Editor,
The world we live in is becoming more and more anti-social as time passes and it will continue to increase. What is the cause of this, you might ask, and my simple answer is the fast advancement of technology.
I wish I knew about the presentation of Ms. Julia Davich (forgive me if the spelling is wrong) that she gave at the University of St. Maarten. I heard part of her presentation this week on the radio and I think one the things she mentioned was the matter of paying online and what this does to the physical interaction of people with each other. She mentioned seniors as one of the examples. They are people who spend most of their time at home and this definitely can affect their mental state especially if they live alone or their relatives hardly visit them.
I am one that never pays my bills online. Two main reasons for this are, the Internet connection is not reliable and, second, I meet persons who I have not seen sometimes in years and get an opportunity to interact with them. Physical interaction is of utmost importance.
Another important factor I believe she mentioned had to do with service/communication. When you go online you get an automatic/electronic response not from an individual but from, let me say it this way, from a machine. The person to whom you send the response, request or inquiry knows who you are but you don’t know who you can hold responsible in such cases. There are some instances, however, when you do get a response or know who the individual or individuals are.
I am quite aware that one cannot stop the advancement of technology but what we can do is give a more humane approach to the people who need assistance, especially the seniors. Every institution, be it government, financial institutions such as banks, those that provide services must make the experience of seniors as pleasant as possible. There are too many complaints from seniors about how they are being treated. Remember if you live long enough you too one day will become a senior, how would you want to be treated? See everyone but especially every senior as a potential you.
This is just a drop in the bucket on what I want to say but will leave it here for now. No matter what we think, we are all social beings.
George Pantophlet
