DannyBoyinExile

A friend of mine wrote me a letter a few weeks ago – and I still haven’t written him back. When I remembered that I owed him a letter, I realized that I haven’t written ANYBODY a real, pen and paper letter lately! The tablet has me spoiled to the point that all I’ve done is type letters, and send them off as emails. So is it my fault for not writing him back yet – or his fault, for not signing up with Securus, so we can email each other like civilized people? I’ll choose the latter… (haha)
Things have changed around here during the three months that we’ve had the tablets. The dayrooms used to be hot, loud, and packed with rowdy inmates for most of the day. That’s where you HAD to go, if you wanted to use the phone, watch TV, or just socialize. Because of the tablet effect, the dayroom is hardly ever crowded now, unless it’s chow time (which means the entire wing is out there) – or commissary day, when it looks like a mosh pit…
Now, people can sit in their cells and use the phone any time they like. There is still a thirty minute time limit on phone calls – but waiting in line is nonexistent now (even in the dayroom), so there’s nothing stopping you from hanging up and calling them right back.
As far as the TV goes, not nearly as many people are as eager to watch reruns of Charmed, Law and Order, or talk shows these days. They can rent any movie they can afford, or watch free podcasts or videos in the comfort of their own cells. When it’s over 100° outside, and the dayrooms are even hotter, who WOULDN’T prefer to sit in their cell, where they can strip down to their boxers, sit directly in front of their fans, and play on their tablet?
I can’t say that the fear of losing their tablet privileges is a deterrent that keeps people out of trouble, because it’s not. If inmates are into things that will lead them to trouble, they will eventually find it. But that’s just because they made a higher priority out of other activities than their tablets. You can offer someone a wealth of free entertainment and information – but you can’t force them to take advantage of it.
What I CAN say is that the tablets keep most of us far more occupied than we were before, so we don’t have as much idle time – coupled with bad decision making – that used to get people into trouble. They say that idle hands are the devil’s playground – but I keep my tablet in my hands, which keeps me out of trouble.
There is a class in TDCJ called The Change Agent, wherein they use the analogy that you should be like a coffee bean. I don’t mean sitting in your bunk all day, like a literal coffee bean, but trying to change your environment (the way a coffee bean does a cup of hot water) rather than letting it change you. By that definition, I suppose the Securus tablets are definitely like coffee beans. Because they do (and have) changed the environment around here, for the better. And I can’t think of a single way they have changed anything in a negative way. Well, except for the fact that they are highly addictive, and turn many of us into zombies. As an adult babysitter, though, the tablets are unparalleled! Now we have something constructive to do at any time, even on lockdown.
My only complaint about the tablet so far is this: For months now, ever since we’ve had the tablets, we’ve been hearing about (and anticipating) a movie package, where we could watch movies and TV shows for a fixed fee, rather than renting them individually. A few weeks ago, an icon popped up in our movie section, consisting of a gold box with a question mark inside, and the cryptic phrase, “Coming Soon! August 4”.
We’re all excited, thinking this must be the movie package, at long last, and it turns out to be… The Super Mario Brothers movie?! Come on, man! How excited can a bunch of grown men be – convicted felons, at that – to see a new cartoon?I think that was the biggest letdown since Y2K, when disaster didn’t strike like it was supposed to. Clearly, I won’t be watching it (the movie, I mean, not disaster).
At any rate, I better get back to my snail mail, because I can’t neglect anyone who takes the time to write me – especially when my tablet needs to be charged… haha If this essay was particularly boring, blame it on Mr. Tough (names have been changed, to protect the guilty), who suggested I write about how the tablets have changed things around here. Any errors are mine – and any boringness is his… So says DannyBoy.