Yes, unfortunately you read that headline correctly. On Wednesday, June 6, a woman from the Bronx, N.Y. proceeded to mow down her still-not-even-legal-to-drink 17-year-old boyfriend with her SUV because he broke her cell phone by accident when he dropped it.
This act sent the hit-and-run driver into a rage, where after the argument began early in the morning, Jasmine Diaz, 25, ran over and then fled the scene where Frankie Hernandez later died.
The New York Daily News spoke to Hernandez’s grieving mother, Iris Hernandez, who stated, “I ran down to the street and it was too late. His head was crushed. He wasn’t moving. There was blood everywhere.”
His brother Cesar added, “I heard the rubber burning and saw her just drive off,” said Cesar Hernandez. “By the time I got to him, he was trying to talk, but just bubbles came out of his mouth.”
Diaz later left her Lincoln Aviator in the Fleetwood section of the Bronx, where her mother lives and police subsequently found her hiding. She is currently being questioned at the 44h Precinct stationhouse where authorities are determining what to charge her with.
This is a horrific situation indeed, where a life was taken for breaking an item that could have easily been replaced by walking down the street to the nearest store. However, it highlights the much bigger issue of as new devices including tablets and smartphones are continuously being introduced to the market, a wide majority of the population is treating these pieces of metal as if they are equal to loved ones.
In a recent piece, a debate was struck in which 73 percent of users revealed they think that although technology has helped to improve certain aspects of our lives, some are becoming overly dependent.
PointlessElbert47 stated, “I think we have become overly dependent on technology, and it is isolating us from each other. While technology has improved our lives, we are becoming more and more dependent upon it. More and more people are relying on information from the Internet and smartphones, and I see more and more people becoming isolated from each other because of a false sense of connection, due to social media. If we have a major black-out or world crisis, it will be interesting to see how people survive without their technology.”
On the other hand, AbandonedDeangelo55 commented, “We are becoming too dependent on some technology, and that causes social isolation and inability to do some basic tasks that humans should do. Clearly, young people who sit in front of computers, playing video games in their spare time, do not get exercise and do not socialize with people their age. Social isolation is not a good thing. In addition, in the age of texting and Twitter (News - Alert), people are losing their ability to write simple English sentences and to reason effectively.”
In a poll conducted by Harris Interactive (News - Alert), almost two-thirds (nearly 65 percent) of Americans agree in unison that today’s society is too dependent upon electronic gadgets, and 39 percent do not think technology makes people more productive. However, these survey takers also agreed that technology has helped multiple industries including education, automakers and green products and services.
My opinion (come on, you know you want to know) is that although technology has helped us in multiple ways, from eliminating us from having to stare at maps with the introduction of GPS type apps to enabling us to check our email while on-the-go in anywhere in the world that has an Internet connection, it is also important to remember at the end of the day what truly matters—health, happiness and those closest to you. Because, hey, if there were to be a blackout and all devices were no longer useful, without a real person around who would you talk to?