The wrong uses of tech

Blog-O-Rama

By ANNALYN S. JUSAY

August 22, 2011, 8:00am

 

MANILA, Philippines -- In the hallowed pages of MB Technews, we celebrate  the latest gadgets and advances in the telecommunications infrastructure. But I want to talk today about the opposite. What happens when technology is actually misused and abused by the ordinary Juan? We’re already hearing about criminals preying on their innocent victims in Facebook. And of course we’ve also heard about this mother in the US who tweeted while her toddler-son was drowning.

Yes it’s true, a lot of us are so enamored with technology and can’t live without it even. We think using mobile phones and computers are so routine in our daily lives that we’re oblivious to the addiction we are developing or the negative aura we are projecting to others. Let me share with you my own experience about this matter.

The maid from hell!  I got her through an agency because  wanted an extra person to work in my litte business, a laundry shop. Prior to being employed, I told her that using the cellphone while at work was a no-no. I already saw this in other helpers and didn’t like it one bit. It turns out she would be the worst of them.  Thanks to cheap unlimited calls, she would use phone from 9 p.m. till the wee hours of the morning. The nanny, who shared the room with her, even reported that Maid  Triple X was engaging in phone sex because of the language being heard. After her long telephone calls, she would be too lazy to wake up early in the morning. I finally let go of the maid from hell after a customer texted me to complain about her excessive phone use - a fact which was confirmed by my landlord. It turns out Maid Triple X would even turn on her mobile to speakerphone mode and speak to different men. And in true fashion, when I told maid from hell to pack up because she cannot work sanely anymore without her phone, the first thing she was worried about was her phone charger being left behind.

Then there’s Subject No. 2, a”fourwhore” whom I met in Foursquare.

She isn’t my friend on the site but I noticed her because she seemed like a stalker checking in to places I’ve been to and grabbing my mayorships. The pits happened when she became the mayor of my laundry shop, ousting me in the process. There were even times when we posted shoutouts jabbing at each other and I asked her “how can you be the mayor when you don’t even go here?” To which she replied: “ You don’t know me Annalyn, you don’t know what I can do.” Ewww! I finally had to email Foursquare to ask about blocking her, the Foursquare addict. I am just thankful that the US location-based sharing website heeded my call to ban her from my venue and remind her about the “house rules.”

The rules being the enforcement of mutual respect and no threats or name-calling on another (okay, I called her a fourwhore, LOL).