Tech and love

Either technology or first love has gotten hold of my 14-year-old brother. The story is this: my brother, in his junior year in high school, has got a girlfriend. When he gets home, all he does is text. He texts when we are eating dinner, when he is playing Tekken, when he’s doing the dishes, when he’s sleeping. You get the point. Problem is this attitude of his did not sit well with me and my mother. He became so absorbed with his textmate that he barely was able to interact with us, his family, who are physically present. Out of my annoyance, but with understanding of how fragile adolescents can be, I tried to “interview” him, explaining that I plan to write about him in my ICT blog. The topic is about technology and teenagers and how technology could be a alienating. He just ignored me and continued texting. He did not get it the first time.

Then my mother got sick. And like most sick mothers, she needed attention. Alas, this brother of mine, the baby of the family has got his own virtual world, where only he and his girlfriend exist. My mother tried to reach out to him, but then her patience waned. She tried to ask him to give to her his cellphone, as form of a warning. He refused. As my mother is on the verge of getting well, she was able to grab the cellphone and smashed it on the wall. I think my brother got the message (not of her girlfriend, since the phone died) this time.

Or so I think.

My brother suffered for less than a week when guilty conscience got hold of my mother and she bought him a new phone. Now, my brother is back to his ways, but is more attuned to the needs of her mother and more responsive to our criticism.