popular

Bette Midler tried to slam teens for looking at their phones at an art museum

Bette Midler tried to slam teens for looking at their phones at an art museum

Is technology ruining our view of the world? Are we spending so much time with our faces in our phones that we miss what's going on around us? Are the teens so invested in their Facebooks and Insta-whatsits that they're missing out on arts and culture because they're so invested in their technadoodles? Not necessarily. We actually can't know technology is making someone miss out on an experience if we don't know what that person's experience is.

Bette Midler recently posted a photo of three teens sitting on a bench at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. They were all looking at their phones with their backs to the painting "Aegina Visited by Jupiter" by 18-th century artist Jean-Baptiste Greuze.

Midler asked Twitter, "What's wrong with this picture?"


Twitter's response was simple. Nothing.

RELATED: Two teens got called out for making a TikTok video after a car crash, but they say it helped them 'cope'

Midler was criticized for trying to make a point when there wasn't a point to make. Just because the girls were on their phones didn't mean they weren't appreciating the art. The two aren't mutually exclusive.






More people felt that there was something wrong with taking a photo of teens at an art museum.







RELATED: A plant is learning to take selfies in the name of science

It turns out, the context for the photo exonerates the girls. They're not being vapid. They're actually educating themselves. One college English teacher posted the real story behind the photo.

The analog version would be getting mad because the girls were looking at the plaque next to the painting.

The Met (where this photo was taken) has an app that allows users to do everything from getting information on exhibits to seeing when the museum is closing. The app has been out since 2015.

More and more museums are utilizing technology to enhance visitor experiences. Patrons are able to interact with art in ways they've never been able to before. According to CNBC, technology has helped museum attendance increase.

Technology also allows art to become more accessible to those who have never even been to an art museum. The Met digitized over 380,000 artworks, making them downloadable on any computer. You'd think that the decision would make people skip the museum for the at-home experience, but it actually boosted museum attendance.

Technology isn't ruining our experiences. Technology is now inextricably part of our experiences. It almost feels antiquated to criticize someone for having the eyes on a screen. You can't judge someone when you don't know the full context of what's going on.

Related Articles Around the Web
bette midler
Badge
P&G Good Everyday
P&G Good Everyday
Let's Do More Together

How do you convince people to vote? A marketing writer shares her attention-getting secrets

Photo by Jennifer Griffin on Unsplash
True

Anne Hebert, a marketing writer living in Austin, TX, jokes that her closest friends think that her hobby is "low-key harassment for social good". She authors a website devoted entirely to People Doing Good Things. She's hosted a yearly canned food drive with up to 150 people stopping by to donate, resulting in hundreds of pounds of donations to take to the food bank for the past decade.

"I try to share info in a positive way that gives people hope and makes them aware of solutions or things they can do to try to make the world a little better," she said.

For now, she's encouraging people through a barrage of persistent, informative, and entertaining emails with one goal in mind: getting people to VOTE. The thing about emailing people and talking about politics, according to Hebert, is to catch their attention—which is how lice got involved.

"When my kids were in elementary school, I was class parent for a year, which meant I had to send the emails to the other parents. As I've learned over the years, a good intro will trick your audience into reading the rest of the email. In fact, another parent told me that my emails always stood out, especially the one that started: 'We need volunteers for the Valentine's Party...oh, and LICE.'"

Hebert isn't working with a specific organization. She is simply trying to motivate others to find ways to plug in to help get out the vote.

Photo by Phillip Goldsberry on Unsplash

Keep Reading Show less
voting
popular

Kim Kardashian shared pics of her private island vacation with a note about being 'humble' during COVID-19

via Kim Kardashian West / Twitter

It's not hard for most people to make fun of the Kardashians. But this week it got even easier after Kim tweeted she took a birthday getaway to Tahiti with her friends and family — during a deadly pandemic.

"After 2 weeks of multiple health screens and asking everyone to quarantine, I surprised my closest inner circle with a trip to a private island where we could pretend things were normal just for a brief moment in time," she tweeted.

Keep Reading Show less
culture
Badge
P&G Good Everyday
P&G Good Everyday
Let's Do More Together

Husband-wife pastor team built a network of support across Houston

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
True

Glenda moved to Houston from Ohio just before the pandemic hit. She didn't know that COVID-19-related delays would make it difficult to get her Texas driver's license and apply for unemployment benefits. She quickly found herself in an impossible situation — stranded in a strange place without money for food, gas, or a job to provide what she needed.

Alone, hungry, and scared, Glenda dialed 2-1-1 for help. The person on the other end of the line directed her to the Houston-based nonprofit Bread of Life, founded by St. John's United Methodist pastors Rudy and Juanita Rasmus.

For nearly 30 years, Bread of Life has been at the forefront of HIV/AIDS prevention, eliminating food insecurity, providing permanent housing to formerly homeless individuals and disaster relief.

Glenda sat in her car for 20 minutes outside of the building, trying to muster up the courage to get out and ask for help. She'd never been in this situation before, and she was terrified.

When she finally got out, she encountered Eva Thibaudeau, who happened to be walking down the street at the exact same time. Thibaudeau is the CEO of Temenos CDC, a nonprofit multi-unit housing development also founded by the Rasmuses, with a mission to serve Midtown Houston's homeless population.

Keep Reading Show less
covid-19
popular

A Black woman came out of surgery with more braids than before. Here's why that matters.

India Marshall

A woman's story of how a surgeon handled her braids during a head surgery has gone viral, not just for the thoughtful actions of the doctor, but for what it shows about the importance of representation in medicine.

India Marshall posted her heartwarming story on Twitter:

"So y'all know how I said I woke up from surgery w/more braids in my head than I came in w/and I thought it was the black nurses? I found out today at my post op appt that the surgeon (he's black) did it," she wrote. "He said he has 3 little girls & they have wash day... I almost cried."

Keep Reading Show less
medicine

Captivating new TED video shows how planting a trillion trees would help reverse climate change

via Ted-Ed / YouTube

Trees are one of the most effective ways to fight back against climate change. Like all plants, trees consume atmospheric carbon through photosynthesis then store it in their wood tissue and in the surrounding soil.

They work as an organic vacuum to remove the billions of pounds of carbon dioxide that humans have dumped into the atmosphere over the past century.

So, if trees are going to be part of the war on climate change, what strategies should we use to make the best use of their amazing ability to repair the Earth? How can we be sure that after planting these trees they are protected and don't become another ecological victim of human greed?

Keep Reading Show less
best of humanity
Trending Topics
Trending Stories
Sister Sites