One of the asides that is coming out in the Gen. David Petraeus scandal is that it is obvious that even very high ranking officials are addicted to the devices and the tools of the Internet.
Aides confirmed that even though he was not romantically involved with her, Petraeus exchanged almost daily emails with the woman who went to the FBI after feeling threatened by messages from his mistress.
Now it is coming out that Petraeus' successor in Afghanistan - Gen. John R. Allen - also exchanged tons of email with this woman.
My goodness, when did these men have time to oversee the wars they were waging?
Of course, the generals are not the only ones who seemingly overuse email, social sites, texting, etc. Communities across the country - including Maui County - have had to pass laws to keep people from texting and talking on cellphones while driving.
For the second time in the last year, we've observed people at holiday parties taking pictures and posting them to Facebook (or was it Twitter) while still at the party! They can't even divorce themselves from an online presence long enough to enjoy a party.
We are old enough to remember times when we didn't communicate with friends or family for DAYS ON END. Wow, what a backward world that must have been.
Now, in the days of instant messaging, every aspect of everyone's life is seemingly available online. The only question seems to be this:
If every visit to the mall, every trip to the grocery store, every walk with the dog is fodder for texting, tweeting, facebooking, or calling on the cellphone, how do you communicate when there is an emergency?
How do you differentiate the important from the mundane?
Frankly, if someone called, texted or emailed upon every visit made to the mall, we'd stop answering the phone or reading messages from that person.
The obvious answer is, if it's an emergency, send a smoke signal.
* Editorials reflect the opinion of the publisher.
