Staring at their Hands in Despair<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"April 1st's Bizarro is funny, but also problematic. How can people who are engaging in constant conversation be "incapable of conversation"? But I am\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2015\/04\/new-arrivals.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Staring at their Hands in Despair\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"April 1st's Bizarro is funny, but also problematic. How can people who are engaging in constant conversation be "incapable of conversation"? 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{"id":29510,"date":"2015-04-07T12:20:16","date_gmt":"2015-04-07T16:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/exploringourmatrix\/?p=29510"},"modified":"2015-04-07T12:20:16","modified_gmt":"2015-04-07T16:20:16","slug":"new-arrivals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2015\/04\/new-arrivals.html","title":{"rendered":"Staring at their Hands in Despair"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"Bizarro$ <\/p>\n

April 1st\u2019s Bizarro<\/a> is funny, but also problematic. How can people who are engaging in constant conversation be \u201cincapable of conversation\u201d? But I am happy to see a depiction of an afterlife without cell phones. Can you imagine how long it would take you to get from one cloud to another if you were stuck behind a group of people texting as they walk?<\/p>\n

In connection with the present, do you find that cell phones mainly connect people or divide people? Or do they do both, and if so, how might we\u00a0work to create a culture that harnesses the connecting power of technology while minimizing its divisive effect?<\/p>\n

But also feel free to discuss the question of afterlife,\u00a0whether there could be one and what it might be like. I am including a poem by Patrick Philips, \u201cHeaven,\u201d<\/a> that is currently displayed in\u00a0New York subway cars<\/a>\u00a0below, to spark discussion on that.<\/p>\n

$\"heaven\"$ <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"