Logan Daily News

Net Watch
by Bob Green

We're born, we grow, if we're blessed with a healthy mind, we begin a path of learning that lasts a lifetime. We learn naturally by the things we see and do. As life progresses we enter more structured learning environments through school and maybe through multiple years of college. The process continues through jobs and relationships and our brains continue to collect and process and store massive amounts of information. Isn't it a shame that as we age, our bodies can start to malfunction. For many, the last days or years of life are spent confined to our homes, or our kids homes or even nursing homes. At the age when the mind is saturated with a lifetime of learning, most of the opportunities to apply that knowledge are severed. How sad it is to see the once socially active, intelligent individual bed ridden and essentially cut off from what makes life meaningful. As we ponder the sad estate of these unfortunate individuals, we try to deny the disturbing thought that some day we too may be in that condition.

What does this have to do with the Internet. Maybe nothing, maybe everything. Several weeks ago I heard a story about an eighty plus year old nursing home resident that gained access to a computer and got a job working over the Internet! Whether the computer and Internet access were provided by the family, a donor, or the nursing home itself, I don't know. The story came to me third hand, but it unleashed a world of hopeful possibilities. Wouldn't it be neat if some of these folks could be given access to the world wide web and have the opportunity to go anywhere in the world they wanted and talk to people from all over and never leave their bed or their wheel chair? They could give and receive advice and continue to learn and grow and meaningfully contribute to society in many ways. The next obvious question that arises is "What if the individual doesn't have use of their hands or doesn't know how to type?" Not a problem. With recent technological advances in voice recognition software, systems can be easily rigged to accept voice commands. What if the person can no longer talk? That can get a bit trickier, but it's still do-able.

As I was trying to find out information about available resources to include in this week's column, I ran across an individual that designs special systems for handicapped people. There was a man in Circleville that could only move his eyebrows and one of his family members contacted Chuck Studebaker in Columbus (cstudeba@ocsea.org) 1-800-294-3578. Chuck has specialized in adapting computer technology to accommodate special needs for the past eighteen years. He was able to design a device that fit onto the man's eyebrow. This enabled him to move a cursor on a computer screen by moving his eyebrow. Chuck designed the system and software so that the Circleville resident was able to communicate. For right now, most of this technology is limited to the very rich, the well connected, or the very young. Most of our elderly are considered to be at the backwaters of life and hardly worth the expense and effort that would be required to bring technology and expanded communications within their grasp. It's such a shame, because there is so much there right now that they could take advantage of. I would like to put out an appeal to our community to begin making provisions to bring life-enriching technology to our aged and infirm. Donations of computers to interested nursing homes and donations of computer internet access by our local providers might be just what's needed to get the ball rolling. What about having one or several roll around units that could be shared among interested residents to begin with? It's just a suggestion, but bear in mind, you may find yourself in that situation and possibly sooner than you think. At that point the only option will be to play back over and over whatever memories your brain can bring up. The choice is yours.

One of the things that I enjoy about the Internet is the wide variety of information that is available. Information on virtually every subject known to man can be found in detail. Of course there is much that I don't personally approve of and as mentioned in earlier columns, parental control programs like Cyber Patrol should be used to keep children and young teens from inappropriate areas. I'd like to take a moment and comment about something that was written in the Logan Daily News last week. The article that I'm referring to was written in anger over "thought police". I join with this writer in my disgust of "thought police".

Those who want to have absolute control of the minds of others must regulate the flow of information that their victims can receive. It was "thought police" that descended with an iron fist upon the unsuspecting Russian public shortly after the Communist revolution of 1917. One of the first things on their agenda was to stomp out Christianity and any thought that they could not control. The Bible was banned along with many of the brightest and best writings of the time. Today that evil regime is gone and the Russian schools are open to the distribution and teaching of the Bible. Students are finally being allowed to see the truth about many things such as the real history of the Communist movement and what it was all about. They are being allowed to think for themselves.

Isn't it interesting that the "thought police" in America have also targeted prayer and the Bible in our schools. They have moved to ban teachings about God and morality and absolutes and anything else they feel threatened by. Under their watchful eye it has become a no-no for teachers to delve into the religious beliefs of our country's founders and how those beliefs have helped to shape this nation. I don't know how you personally feel about this, but to me it's a slap in the face of liberty to limit the flow of true information in this manner. Does that mean we should open our schools to those who would pervert and exploit our children in the name of liberty? God forbid!

One woman from England was very disturbed by the almost total revision of American history that has taken place over the last several decades. Wanting to see for herself, she came to America and went through the original writings and documents of those early founders. The documents are kept in Museums and vaults at places like the Smithsonian. Under the Freedom of Information Act, you can go and read the hand written documents for yourself if you want to see the truth first hand. The book she eventually published tells about how our history has been re-written and she offers some commentary on why. Do yourself a favor and buy or borrow "Re-Writing of America's History" by Catherine Millard. The history she found is much closer to those books written earlier in this century.

My space is up, but I'd just like to leave you with this thought. We have a glorious heritage of informational freedom in this country as evidenced in phenomena like the Internet. Let's join together to extend that freedom to our elders and let's reclaim that freedom for our children. Surf safe and enjoy till next week.