Why do I still have AOL? It’s crazy, I know. Very outdated. The Democrats made fun of Mike Pence because he still uses it. But there are too many people from my past who still contact me that way, and I think it’s too late in my life to change my e mail. Here’s the bad thing: AOL has some way of connecting me to every website I’ve ever visited, and places where I’ve purchased anything. Not only that, the politicians have wormed their way in, and dog me for contributions to causes and people I really don’t care about. Every so often, after receiving about 100 emails a day, I find myself faced with the dreaded unsubscribe chore.

The dreaded unsubscribe chose. It's tedious to unsubscribe. — The dreaded unsubscribe chore. It’s a tedious task, but every so often it’s necessary.

Do you know how to cut down on those unwanted e mails? I didn’t , until I read about it in Heloise. You know, the lady newspaper columnist who tells you exciting ways to re purpose toilet paper rolls. At any rate, Heloise said that first, you open the dreaded e mail. Then, you scroll to the bottom of the page. Put on your glasses, get a flashlight, and squint at the fine print. Somewhere in there it says,” unsubscribe.” You click on that. And, if you’re lucky, you will receive a message that you’re unsubscribed.

But it doesn’t always work out so easily. Often, you will be directed to another message which demands to know why you’re unsubscribing, and making you verify that you honestly don’t want to get any more emails from them. Or, they ask you to key in your email address–as if they didn’t know. After you’ve done that about 30 times a , it gets tiresome and time consuming. Sometimes, they’ll tell you that it may take a while to get unsubscribed, and not to worry if you still keep getting emails from them . That’s a sneaky way to keep you from losing track of who you’ve unsubscribed. The truth is, some of them will never let you go.

At any rate, today’s the day to start the dreaded unsubscribe chore. I will only give it an hour of my time, which won’t even scratch the surface. But you have to start somewhere.

We’re in shock this morning. Our hearts go out to the victims of the mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, and the lives that have been changed forever. We’re mourning a national tragedy.

GRIEVING FOR THE VICTIMS OF THIS WEEKEND OF TRAGEDY

Why do these things happen? I don’t remember any mass shootings while raising my children. Some presidential candidates are now politicizing the shootings. But forty years ago we had Democrats and Republicans and Jim Crow Laws and the Vietnam War. Mental illness was widely prevalent, but poorly understood or treated. And there was very little gun control.

This is what we didn’t have: the internet. There were no violent video games so readily available, desensitizing young men to violence. No one had a Facebook account, where people could brag and make other people envious. There was no Instagram or Twitter where you could publicly shame or bully someone to the point of suicide. Now, Instead of face to face relationships and real conversations, everyone just texts. We’ve almost forgotten what it’s like to talk to a real live person.

Technology has changed our world and done wondrous things for our society. But it’s also dehumanized us to the point where violence has become the norm.

Tag: INTERNET

THE DREADED UNSUBSCRIBE CHORE

Mourning A National Tragedy

We’re in shock this morning. Our hearts go out to the victims of the mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, and the lives that have been changed forever. We’re mourning a national tragedy.

Technology has changed our world and done wondrous things for our society. But it’s also dehumanized us to the point where violence has become the norm.