Dear Editor,
Since cell phones got easily obtainable in Guyana and the different types of cell phones started to flood the market, many people ensure that they have one or two, and that seems to get a lot of them into trouble. These phones comes from different manufacturers and they include different features which makes them very costly. Many people too eventually obtain a newer version with more features or a newer brand. If one were to investigate, one would find that most of the features of a phone have not been utilized by the owner because they don’t know how; they can only message, call, take videos, photographs and use Facebook or Twitter.
I recall when the Guyana Police Force had the standoff with Deryck Kanhai in Middle Street last year November, the social media had a lot of images which had been uploaded by many onlookers from their mobiles. The police had a lot of trouble keeping them at a safe distance, because many of them wanted to see the shooter in action and some of them wanted to get pictures.
During the festive season one night, whilst waiting on transportation at the Route 32 bus park at Stabroek Market, gunshots erupted where there was a crowd at the corner of Parliament Building. Amazingly, whilst I was looking for cover, many other people started running to where the shots were being fired. Some of them whipped out their phones and pointed these in front of them whilst running. Now if any shooter observed these people running towards them with their hand extended holding something, they might assume it’s a gun, and then their instinct could kick in and that could be deadly. That didn’t happen, but people should be more careful about their actions, the danger in which they put themselves and other people, and the consequences.
Similarly, at the recent accident scene at Anna Catherina, one of my relative informed me that he stopped to render assistance to the late Rayshon Cook because he believed that the victim was still alive, but many in the crowd were busy taking pictures and refused to help. Most of the pictures are taken with the intention of posting them on the various social networks in the hope that they go viral and get lots of comments and ‘likes.’ Some compete to see who gets the best pictures to boast and brag about, and whist they are doing that, a man’s life might be fading away. It seems as if entertainment is more important than humanity.
Editor, when I used to attend North Georgetown Secondary, the caretaker of the school then caught two students engaging in a sexual act one afternoon after school hours. The whole school and some other schools got to hear all the details, the name of the girl and the class she was in the very next day. Incidentally cell phones with the video/photo features were not available then, but word of mouth was very effective to the extent that the story’s details were more lurid than what actually transpired.
Our younger generation is vulnerable and has similar attitudes to the older age group, but technology is better now and I am quite sure if it had been available then, we would have had a lot of videos/photographs of that era also. I am not saying that what is happening is right, but if parents don’t have a better relationship with their children, more issues will arise. There are many parents who still believe that beating children is the answer and because they cannot do that, they sit back and just leave them to live their lives and go astray. Because some parents, especially fathers don’t sit with their daughters and talk to them and give them advice, they become vulnerable and easy prey for exploitation. Some fathers only make threats of beating and believe that their job is done.
There are many videos circulating with other children which mostly taxi drivers have on their phones and share or sell them. There are girls who have videos circulating of them and they are ashamed to leave their houses. It is time parents gets more involved with their children and their activities because things are getting worse.
Yours faithfully,
Sahadeo Bates