In some of the community college classes I teach, many students unknowingly try to provoke me by wearing earbuds and/or interacting with their communication technology. This would bother me, but for my realization that before someone CAN provke me, there first must BE that someone actually doing, actually intending the provocation. Instead the students' fear of the future and/or regret of the past may be unconsciously motivating them to use communication technology as a distraction. My students may prefer distraction, any distraction, because it is more what they are used to. Anything, I guess, is preferable to the alternative of becoming aware that they hardly exist, even to themselves.

I know that some "teachers" would say that I should "order" them to remove their technology. ( I often try saying remove your conversations! If only they could HEAR me! lol Some "teachers" (I would call them something closer to NAZIS) would say I should warn them that I will get, or actually get security to enforce the ban on computers, I pods, I pads, phones, etc. However I want to avoid such authoritarianism because it only adds to the fear of the future and regrets of the past that overwhelm these students already.

"Readers" may say that it is hopeless to reach these students any other way other than by using authoritarian, i.e., negative power. ( I call authoritarian "power" negative "power" because it proceeds from weakness and fear, i.e., it is a PERFORMANCE). I say such use of authoritarianor negative power only reinforces fear, regret, hopelessness. Use of such authoritarian negative power would, I believe, USE ME, i.e., when a negative performance emerges, is elicited, it arises from ego and drama-namely your fears of the future and/or regrets of the past. What I want to do is to motivate a kind of self validity POSITIVE POWER, the kind of POWER that ironically emerges from risking to be one's emotional vulnerability, (instead of physical vulnerability), because such emotional vulnerability emerges from risking to connect with and/or BE ones consciousness awareness, a "flow" that is free from ego and drama, it is presen clarity, flow and gratitude for NOW, the reality of now.

Many will say it is expecting too much of college age youth, they are too young to become mature enough to risk emotional vulnerability. But then, when is the time right for emotional vulnerability maturity to emerge? Even older persons, even seniors, are immature in terms of emotional vulnerability. For instance, I see these barriers to communication in my own, personal relationshps,with friends and family over 40, too. I was recently informed by my BFF that certain subjects are "off limits". Emotional boundaries are taken so seriously, that, it seeems, "Sticks and Stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me" was unheard, or relegated to an "unstatement", or something. That I had to censor myself in order to be in my BFF's life was dissapointing to say the least, because I want to communicate like Dostoevsky wrote about in Crime and Punishment: "(Where)(a)ll is permitted".

If only I knew how to popularly and commercially promote the idea that communicating "power" through fear of the future, fear of anything negative, any negative repercussions, was an illusion, a myth, because the future itself is an illusion, a myth, i.e., all that is real is NOW, the PRESENT. Of course, I will be dismissed, called insane! I WOULD worry that this might happen, BUT before I HAVE to worry about what readers might comment, what readers might post, I would have to first BELIEVE there even WAS a reader/commenter-poster, etc. Mostly, though, instead of doing any reading, or doing any commenting-posting, the reading and the commenting-posting does "YOU" lol

There are, of course, those few who are brave enough to risk collateral "damage" by posting-commenting favorably to this article. Like my students, most readers, though, are virtually "wearing" barriers to their awrareness, barriers to enhancing their levels of consciousness. IMHO, most readers are at the hate(rs gotta hate) level of consciousness on the Hawkins Scale of Consciousness, namely they are too fearful of the future and/or too regretful of the past to try to even BEGIN to focus on the reality of the present, where they COULD let open mindedness emerge. Plus there is always the possibility that this article will be supressed because, like in Orwell's 1984, I am considered to be an "unperson", virtually vaporized from existence! lol