When I started writing this piece I had just a basic thought in mind, but after the media blitz associated with Alderman Roy Perkins’ proposal to ban all electronic media from the Starkville Board of Aldermen meetings, it took on a new life and intensity.
For those who haven’t been following the brouhaha in Starkville print and television and yes, social media, there was a proposal to ban all electronic devices from the board meetings. This sweeping recommendation met with a barrage of local media response and sadly helped Starkville yet again make some national news that wasn’t flattering.
Fortunately wiser and more reasonable heads prevailed at the board meeting and the ban on all devices morphed into a ban on cellphones. A resolution requiring cellphones to be silenced or powered down during board meetings, a much more reasonable, appropriate and long overdue request, passed.
The proposal for the total ban came from Perkins, an attorney and longest serving alderman, who has a well-known dislike of most things new, especially technology. He still insists on using a fax machine to receive information and while he has an email account he does not encourage the use of that medium. He is the only board member who did not want a city-provided iPad so he could get his board packet electronically.
Interestingly enough the proposed ban provided exclusions for “mainstream media” which did not have a definition. It stated that the media should be communicating board business. Rather than simply a ban on disruptive devices, it appeared to be targeting amateur social-media types, who are unrestricted from a news-only, facts-only commentary. In other words it was an apparent attempt to control the content of the information provided through those channels. Once you hit a content-driven prohibition, you have rolled into First Amendment restrictions.
When I first settled on this subject, I was going to ask “who doesn’t use email?” It seems that isn’t even a reasonable question anymore. Email addresses are on every business card and form of advertising from lawyers to bankers to sales people. If you don’t have an email address then you have cemented yourself into the previous century. What has become our default way to communicate with each other has changed everything we do so dramatically it is phenomena unto itself. It has virtually taken the United States Post Office into bankruptcy single-handedly.
Social media has been around for a while, but Twitter and Instagram have shown recent explosive growth. I confess to using Facebook a little, Twitter a lot, but Instagram, not at all. I have defaulted to email as the primary source of communication for all the things that used to be through basic telephone calls and letters. I worry about a businessperson who has not embraced the speed and efficiency of email. It is a sign of short-sightedness or unwillingness to accept change, either trait is disastrous to a successful business plan. If my octogenarian aunt has an email account there is no excuse for anyone to be without, though, Frankie is pretty special.
The richest form of communication for any subject will always be face-to-face. Fortunately that isn’t required for simple subjects such as setting up a lunch or confirming information. I have had many back-and-forth email exchanges that led to the realization we just needed to talk to one another.
A conversation allows more nuance; sarcasm and humor are clearly communicated. Try that with email and you may be explaining yourself for days to come or you may have just unwittingly lost some business opportunity or even a friend. A word to the wise: Don’t put it in writing unless you are ready to see it again under any and all circumstances.
The wonder of social media is that it can be used to communicate serious information such as the activities of the Board of Aldermen or a call for help from an accident scene to the just plain fun of sharing photos and thoughts, private and public.
It makes you want to live for another hundred years just to see what comes next; though for some, maybe not.
Lynn Spruill, a former commercial airline pilot, elected official and city administrator owns and manages Spruill Property Management in Starkville. Her email address is [email protected].
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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