Technology vs Humanity

We’ve all seen the horrific videos of 15 year old Lesandro Junior Guzman-Feliz that went viral shortly after a gang brutally murdered him. There is absolutely no need to publish those videos on this post, so be assured you can continue to read this post without having to endure the triggering images. 

I often find myself, as I’m sure many of you do, struggling to make something so senseless make sense. Everyday I go through the routine of checking court records, breaking news headlines, and jail records looking for any sign of something new regarding Jr’s case. I follow this up by scoping my favorite #JusticeForJunior pages on IG and then I go to the hashtag.

#JusticeForJunior

That heartbreaking hashtag. Granted, many pages that are dedicated to honoring Junior’s memory make it a daily ritual to post pictures and videos that serve as tributes to the sweet boy who has captured our hearts with his goofy dancing, his intoxicating smile, and his contagious laughter.

However, there’s also pages that were created to help fellow advocates keep up with the ongoing investigation and impending prosecution of Junior’s killers...the Zures Set of the notorious gang known as the Trinitarios. Sadly, this portion of posts make us face some very harsh realities.

One of those harsh realities that many of us struggle to cope with is on that June night when Junior was dragged from a bodega to be ruthlessly stabbed, there were people that hit record instead of hitting 9-1-1 and send on their phones. 

It’s something that we just haven’t been able to come to terms with and as I reflect on it constantly, I find myself thinking back to a quote I once saw on Twitter.

“I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.”

I wish I could credit the author of this quote, but unfortunately, it isn’t really clear exactly who said this though it has often been credited to Albert Einstein. 

For the purpose of this post, the author isn’t really relevant in the sense that these words are  still dauntingly accurate regardless of who may have said it.

It’s a perfect summarization of a growing problem in today’s technology driven world. We, as a society, have allowed technology to become a barrier against actual human interaction and I fear this has corrupted people’s abilities to make better moral choices and demonstrate empathy for their fellow man. 

I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen videos of various acts of violence where people did more to record than they did to actually help, but a brutal murder of this caliber? It’s a first for me. 

Why have we allowed technology and the various social media platforms that incorporate said technology convert us into detached beings that often times demonstrate such indifference to human life by recording these tragedies in time?

It has not escaped my attention that technology played a very huge role in identifying Junior’s killers. However, in the months since this tragedy went viral, we now know that surveillance from where the chase began, where the chase ended, the scuffle inside the bodega and all the way up to where Jr collapsed and succumbed to his injuries at a security booth behind St. Barnabas Hospital provided more than enough to apprehend the killers and indict them for Junior’s death. 

So was that cell phone recording of Junior’s murder needed more than a 911 call was needed at the first sight of a gang of men filling up the streets clearly indicating something was amiss? 

I cringe at the thought that grabbing our cell phones to record such a merciless slaying has overridden actually showing greater regard for human life. 

There must be a balance, but if the scale is to be tipped in favor of one side over the other, then we have to do better to make our humanity take priority over technology.

Otherwise my growing fear is, we most certainly have allowed technology to surpass humanity to breed a generation of idiots into the world. 

Thankfully, humanity redeems itself when I see the outpouring of love and support for Junior’s family during their darkest hour and deepest despair.