MICROSOFT Bing defines addiction to electronic gadgets as the “uncontrollable urge or impulse to continue using technology to the point that it starts to interfere with the individual’s mental, physical and social life”.
Take note that the operative word here is “uncontrollable”, meaning to say that the definition excludes regular and customary use, within what is generally perceived to be normal or “controlled” use.
In theory, electronic gadgets are supposed to be used as “tools” that could help us improve our “mental, physical and social life”. It is supposed to enhance what we are normally doing, meaning that these are not supposed to replace what we are doing with actions and activities that could already be considered as abnormal.
Microsoft Bing also says that “gadget addiction affects all age groups and people of all races, and can lead to mental, physical, emotional and even political consequences”.
While it is generally believed that the problem of addiction to gadgets affect the young people more, that is not true. That belief could be due to the fact that young people are more adept in using social media, internet surfing, video games and everything online.
Just like any other addiction, the solution to the problem could eventually lead to treatments such as therapies, and even confinements in specialized facilities.
Perhaps it is time to deal with this problem before it gets out of hand? Shall we call the attention of the Department of Health?
GENETICALLY MODIFIED BANANAS
As far as I can remember, I have always been against using genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to produce food. That has always been my belief, because I did not like the idea of splicing animal DNA into plant DNA.
That was my belief, because I knew that the food companies were splicing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) genes from an animal DNA (from bacteria) into the DNA of the corn plant.
As much as I would rather not eat genetically modified corn, I have no way of knowing now which are GMO corn and which are not in the markets, because of very poor enforcement of labeling laws in this country.
By now, I seem to have no choice but to accept the fact that the battle against GMO foods is all but lost. Although I still would not want to stop fighting it if I still could, I am now willing to tolerate certain GMO foods only if one plant DNA is mixed with another plant DNA.
And now, scientists from Australia have created a new strain of bananas by adding a gene from a wild banana. In other words, from plant to plant, from banana to banana. That is why I think that there is perfectly nothing wrong with doing that.
And now, the new strain is resistant to the Panama disease, a virus that affects both banana and abaca plants. Can you imagine what that can do to boost our agriculture?
Aside from being able to produce and export more bananas, we can now do the same with abaca products. It is a good time to do that now, to replace many plastic materials./PN
