Pinheads and Patriots Read Free

as long as no one, including you, gets hurt. So if tweeting is entertaining for you, well, tweet hardy. For me, however, high-tech blathering is frittering away my time, which is already limited by a crowded work and home schedule.
    I like to read. I learn things from reading books, magazines, and newspapers (God help me). I’m not sure I’d be learning a lot reading Taylor Swift’s daily diary. As always, I could be wrong.
    I also learn things from watching people and taking walks without headphones on. On these walks, I think and look at actual life. Machines are banned.
    So how boring am I? Up there with Lawrence Welk, right? If you don’t know old Lawrence, he was a bland bandleader whom your grandmother might have liked way back in the 1960s. Welk’s big line was, “And a one and a two…” Stupefying.
    Unlike Lawrence Welk, I am not boring on TV; at least, that’s what the ratings and research indicate. Thank God, millions of folks think the presentation on The O’Reilly Factor is unique and spontaneous. That’s because I actually think about what I’m going to do and say on the program. I think about this without Lady Gaga screaming in my ear, with all due respect to Ms. Gaga, a marketing genius.
    Also, because I read an enormous amount, I am prepared to back up my opinions with actual facts. That separates me from many TV talking heads who spend hours in makeup with headphones on, bopping to the Crocodile Rock or something. Sorry if I sound supercilious, but I have not succumbed to the machine life. That, I believe, has helped me maintain success.
    Sadly, it is hard to convince some younger folks that my strategy has merit. Compelling ideas come into clear minds. Walking in a forest or on a beach is good for clarity and creativity. Especially if you do this without Jay-Z (another marketing genius) rapping directly into your eardrum. Are you hearing me on this? Are you still able to hear?
    The writer Stephen King recently wrote a novel in which cell phone users turned into violent zombies. He was obviously satirizing our machine-saturated society. But some folks actually are high-tech zombies in real life; they have lost the ability to experience reality. Want sex? You can get facsimile all over the Net. Want a date? You can chat up people all day long. Want food? Well, the Net can’t feed you yet, but I’ll bet they’re working on it.
    So let’s return to the central question: How does a changing America directly affect you? The election of Barack Obama is illustration number one. He raised millions on the Net and convinced younger voters to support him in great numbers. Now, the President and his crew are affecting all of our lives. Without cyberspace, I do not believe an inexperienced politician like Obama would have been elected to the most powerful position in the world. Remember, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton had lengthy political résumés whenthey were elected. Barack Obama was a senator for less than two years, and did little of substance in his time on the Hill.

    President Obama walks along the White House colonnade with his beloved BlackBerry!
White House
    The second change we all have to deal with is raising children. Have you tried having a conversation with a kid lately? It’s never been easy, but these days it’s a killer. Often, you have to literally yank portable machines out of their hands to get kids’ attention. Predictably, the urchins resent the intrusion on their fun, so right away we adults are not in a great communication position.
    Listen to this: according to a Kaiser Family Foundation study, American kids ages eight to eighteen spend 7.5 hours a day on average consuming electronic stimulation. Do the math. The kid sleeps nine hours, then goes to school for six. Therefore, Sally or Brendan has only 2.5 free hours a day unattached to machines. This is unbelievable. When do children play outside? When do they have