A study in 2008 concluded that the number of American university students
displaying narcissistic personality tendencies had increased 30 per cent since 1985. Since then, “selfie” has been named word of the year by the Oxford Dictionary, and the Queen has bemoaned the fact that, when she decamps the palace to meet people face-to-face, she is inevitably greeted by their backs. Or more precisely the backs of their skulls and the sight of their smartphone screens raised overhead, pointing back in her direction: the selfie arabesque. Nobody takes pictures of the Eiffel Tower or the Queen or the Grand Canyon any more; they take pictures of themselves in front of interchangeable backdrops. So what, then, will the rise of the smartwatch mean? What will it tell us when people go from featuring themselves in every photo to obsessively monitoring their heart rates 24/7?

Next year, Apple, which has a gift for taking emerging technologies – the personal computer, the MP3 player, the smartphone – and creating vast new markets for them, will release a new device that mimics a wristwatch in appearance but is in fact a bundle of sensors that automatically records users' existences on a micro level. (It also tells time.) Soon enough, perfectly healthy people will declare via the hardware on their wrists that they are so preoccupied with the minutiae of their being that they are keeping a computerized record of every heartbeat and the number of times they stand up each hour. Boon to public health? Or normalization of extreme self-regard?

The world changes, technology changes, values change. There is no logic in decrying the march of progress, but the same cannot be said for the inexorable rise of self-regard. We have the power to see and feel and live in the world around us; we don't need to mediate and validate it through pixelated ephemera stored in the cloud. There is something sad about using devices to take the measure of our own hearts. We should beware of how far we go. (Globe Editorial)

The rust of PNP

An edifice that is not well maintained will sooner or later suffer from rusting that will soon destroy it. Everyday care must therefore be instituted in order to keep it strong and spare it from being destroyed beyond repair. A rusty building is a sign of neglect if not poor maintenance. The same is true with any human institution. An institution that does not have a well-placed human resource program will soon deteriorate by losing its capacity to pursue its vision, mission and goals. A human institution whose capacity building is not anchored on the virtues of honesty, loyalty, integrity and excellence will soon lose its relevance in society and therefore lose the respect of society.

The news report about some members of the Philippine National Police being involved in "hulidap" (hulihinmunasaka hold-upin) raised once more the question of discipline among the our PNP personnel and officers (the recent report involved up to the rank of Chief Inspector or Major). This is not the only report that pictured a bad image for the PNP. In the not so long ago past, people remember that quite a few of the policemen were also involved in premeditated criminal acts that made people asked how such an institution that is supposed to be an epitome of what a disciplined and dedicated force should be can have members who just wantonly take a left turn and destroy the good image of the institution they represent.

In an institution with more than 200,000 personnel, the bad example of ten (10) members should not make a dent on its image. But then again the PNP is the PNP. It cannot afford to make a mistake involving discipline simply because of the nature of work and service that it gives to society. Surely not at this time when what the people hear about are incidents of graft and corruption in the highest echelon of state organizations and institutions. When people can't feel anymore that their PNP is out there to protect them from criminals and harm, who else will they turn to? If the PNP cannot rust proof the institution by getting rid of the criminal elements within their ranks, who will? No formal schooling can fully shape a person and become immutable after that. In the same manner no police academy or rigid training can make a good policeman all his career life. Realities in the service can cause the rust that will slowly erode whatever moral fiber that was formed by the academy and other trainings.

The personnel department and internal affairs service must work hand in hand to come up with a program that will constantly and sustainably keep those work and moral values intact all the time. Erring personnel should never be covered up by any official or any investigating body of the institution. To do so would be to take part in the destruction of the institution itself. To do so would be to provide the chemical reaction for the rust to set in. No one can destroy an institution faster than the people in it themselves. The national leadership talks of reforms in the PNP. Let reforms be taken first in the area of discipline. Subject it to periodic maintenance to keep rust from setting in. Then excellent performance will just necessarily follow. Let the Performance Governance System that PNP is now adopting work on that first and we will see better results later if not sooner.