ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Technology and the New Neighborly

Updated on November 27, 2020

The Old Neighborhood Is Changing

Recently, I visited with my father at the house he bought in the 1960's. It is not a rare thing. I visit fairly often since the last time he went into the hospital. He is no longer driving, and the visits are a brief opportunity for him to get out and about.

He has a young lady staying with him, young enough to be his granddaughter. It is an extended stay. Their story is that they help each other out.

Dad used to have cats – lots of cats. The last of the cats died less than a year ago, and the only animal in the house now is a dog. The dog belongs to the young lady. It is the second dog she has had in the house. The first dog had a habit of escaping the house, and one day it got into the neighbors yard and scared their rabbit to death. Of course this caused some angst with the neighbors.

It is sad, because Dad used to help out the neighbors too. Everyone used to get along fine. If not fine, then they shared a reasonably peaceful coexistence. It is still that way, at least as far as I can tell with my regular visits.

Keeping an Eye On The Old Man?

The New Neighborly Way to Keep an Eye on the Old Man in the Neighborhood.
The New Neighborly Way to Keep an Eye on the Old Man in the Neighborhood. | Source

The Technological Eye

Things have changed. During one of the first visits after I visited, the folks at dads’ house were talking about the video cameras that had been mounted on the neighbors’ house. The folks in Dads’ house thought the cameras were deliberately being pointed at Dads house. They think they are being watched because the neighbors rabbit died. The local police were asked about it. The police were called because the rabbit died too. In the end, the rabbit and the dog got the worst of it.

Old friends are not talking anymore, and the new neighborly way means spending dollars to buy cameras, and spending tax dollars to call the police. People don’t talk to each other anymore, but they are ready at the drop of a hat to talk about other people. The one thing they have in common is that they ALL complain about taxes.

The technology is cheap though.

A New Neighborhood with Windows

My own house is in a busy neighborhood. Depending on the day and the occasion, anywhere between 1000 and 10000 people walk by the house. It is one of those places lots of people like to visit. Some of us even live here.

When I first moved in one of the neighbors came over, and said ‘Jim? You really should get curtains for your kitchen window. Anybody who is walking by can see in your house.’

I thought about that for a second, and said ‘So? It doesn’t bother me if someone wants to watch me cook or wash dishes.’

She replied ‘But they can see what you have in your house!’

After some discussion, it turned out she was worried about people looking in the house, seeing something they want, then figuring out a way to steal the stuff. Not a big worry for me. “Nothing to see here.” Did I mention that somewhere between 1000 and 10000 people go by each day? It is one of those places lots of people like to use for going from point to point, including the police.

There have been many occasions where people walking by will look up at the house, see an open window, and then quickly look away when they see someone there. There have been many other occasions where a friend will walk by, see me there, and wave at the house. The reactions of people nearby is sometimes laughable. One guy nearly fell off his skateboard.

I routinely leave windows uncovered, even at night. If I intend to be in a room at night (other than the kitchen) I’ll draw the blinds. When I leave, they are opened right back up again. To me, the purpose of blinds and curtains is to control when sunlight can get into the house. There is nothing like natural sunlight in the winter to help heat a house. There is nothing like blinds (and shade) in the summer to help keep a house cool. It makes sense, but, nowadays, people prefer technology.

New Neighbor

Visiting Dad makes for a long day, with more hours on the road than I prefer anymore. When I was younger, 20 hours straight of driving was do-able without too much loss of energy. Now, driving three hours, running errands, and then driving three more hours might mean I get home with a head-ache. Such was the case on the last trip.

A few months ago a neighbor moved out, and on my last return visit a new neighbor was moving in. I visited real quick, told them I was the neighbor and we exchanged names, and then took my headache back home.

The New Neighborly At Night

The New Neighborly Way to Watch Your Neighbors at Night. Must be bored, Move along, nothing to see here.
The New Neighborly Way to Watch Your Neighbors at Night. Must be bored, Move along, nothing to see here. | Source

A few days later, I went into a room at night, one next to a neighbor’s house. They were outside. I closed the blinds, to protect both our privacy. When I was done, I opened the blinds back up, turned out the light and left the room, closing the door behind. They were still outside. All was routine.

I woke up in the middle of the night. Waking in the middle of the night happens often when you get older, and happens often when you sleep lightly. People walk by at night too. I checked the door, and noted a camera (video?) and tripod set up on the neighbors back porch. I went back to sleep. In the morning, I opened the door back up and the camera and tripod was still there. I took a picture, since the camera sort of looked like it was pointed right in my open window.

New Neighborly in the Daylight

The New Neighborly Way of Making Sure Your Neighbors Are OK; Set up a camera stand and point it in their window. Move along, nothing to see here.
The New Neighborly Way of Making Sure Your Neighbors Are OK; Set up a camera stand and point it in their window. Move along, nothing to see here. | Source

I went to work. In the evening, when I got home, the tripod was still there. Such a new thing, so, I took another picture.

I thought "In this new age, maybe this is the new neighborly."

And then I thought "that would make a good title for an article".

Police and Cameras

In this neighborhood, as far as I know, we don’t call the police on each other. We still go talk to each other, and rarely have concerns. We talk to each other about what we have seen. But out in the real world, it is still a fact of life that we approach with caution people that we do not know.

You may have heard there is a move on to outfit police nationwide with body cameras and with vehicle cameras. And people are using their cameras to watch police. Video cameras are everywhere. They watch our daily lives. People have cameras for protection. People have cameras to take pictures of the birds, or the river, or the stars, or fireworks. Will the internet soon be used to allow these cameras to talk to each other about what they have seen.

And so I must ask the following question ...

Is Video Camera Technology a Good Thing?

See results
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)