Digital Nation Changing Nation

Digital Nation Changing Nation
by Chaplain Kathie
Last night I was watching Digital Nation on PBS. They were talking about how everyone is hooked up into a digital world from school age, to college to senior citizens. The show focused on a lot of the negative aspects with people multitasking, believing they are mastering all but it turned out they were falling short in thinking.

As I watched it had me doing a lot of thinking. This digital world has the power to connect people to stories they would have never known about.

Watch Digital Nation on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

Sure there are a lot of fun things going on, stupid stuff wasting time but had it not been for this new world of digital technology and a lot of really smart people changing it on a daily basis, this country wouldn't be stepping up to help veterans. No one would be talking about PTSD, combat, families suffering, along with all the bad that comes but they wouldn't be helping each other heal either.

When Vietnam veterans came home, no one knew what they were going through, so it seemed as if they didn't care. The journalists were focused on all the times a Vietnam veteran got into trouble because as the value the "bleeds" stories putting them into the headlines, stories about these veterans rising above all we did to them, waging another battle to have PTSD treated as a wound caused by combat, were happening all across this country. No one knew about any of it. This made their battle harder to fight than if they had this ability to connect across the country.

Stop and think for a second about our view of these veterans. No one wanted anything to do with any of them because they were an oddity topped off with the only reports released about them in the press were painting them all as drug addicts and criminals. They wouldn't give up on us and fought to make their suffering known so we turned around and actually did something about it.

Most of what they achieved happened because of the introduction of the Web enabling them to connect to other veterans beyond the limited, narrow view of the press. Sites started to link them together. Army Lost and Found is just one example of the sites I visited in the 90's. It is a posting site helping veterans find each other. I used it when I was researching PTSD, reading their stories and discovered how much they still need each other, watch over each other and learn.

While the media ignored all of this, they found ways of connecting and there was an underground railroad of information flowing between veterans.

Today we see this and we still witness the greatness of our veterans. If you only watch cable news, you're missing out on most of what is going on in this country. The digital world will kill off MSNBC, FOX and CNN because they are all focusing on politics more than anything else forcing viewers like me to stop watching. Yet even they occasionally report on a veteran's story that captures the nation's attention.

Every morning I read the emails, alerts about what is going on, press releases, you name it, and every morning I see how this technology is changing this country for the better. We don't just read about stories, we actually do something about what we're reading.

They returned from Iraq and Afghanistan with an abundance of ways to connect and share. The problem for most of them is the information overload leaving them to feel overwhelmed not knowing where to click to find what they need. But this technology is also feeding people in need, giving them shelter, compelling groups to offer support and even saving lives.

Thirty years ago, I had to go to the library and buy books to do research. Twenty years ago, it was searching online and emails. Today it is a growing list.

When I finished college, I posted on my blog updated my profile, Facebook and because of the way my blog is set up, it automatically updated Twitter. I changed my profile on Linked In. I use YouTube for videos and Great Americans because this generation doesn't want to read much and is used to being able to find what they want with a click off their phones and laptops.

While I do agree we have information overload, there is a lot happening in this country that would not have been possible without it.

I just had to laugh considering in 1993, my brother gave me my first computer and I couldn't figure out how to use the mouse! The new generation of veterans coming home are connecting with each other but they are also connecting to my generation and we in turn connect to our parents generation. We learn, we teach, we lead, we follow and we grow. We don't have to sit and wonder how we can help, we just do it. We don't have to go off on our merry way assuming there is nothing to do for our veterans. We know better. In ways great and small, we manage to change this country for the better but the media giants are slow learners. They'll stay focused on the people in politics wanting to run this nation but we are the ones making this nation better.

Most of the good things being done in this country are being done because veterans got involved with it and the digital world hooked them up.