Okay, let me explain that my objections to jury duty have absolutely nothing to do with not wanting to sit on a jury. I am fine with fulfilling this duty, just as I faithfully vote. It’s part and parcel of our system. The problem is that the courthouses are deep in Miami and the traffic is terrible. Even trying to use the Metro is a hassle because Miami has the worst Metro I’ve ever encountered for a city of it’s size. If there was a courthouse near the South Dade Government Center, that would at least cut back on the almost 3 hours of commuting that I had yesterday.

Anyway, with that said, of the six times that I have been pulled in for jury duty, there was an interesting addition to the initial instructions that are issued to the very large jury pool before groups are selected (or not) to go to the various courtrooms. The new and fairly lengthy part of the instructions has to do with electronic devices and social media. It isn’t something that I had thought about, but the instructions do make sense. Each judge will determine the degree to which cell phones, tablets, computers, etc., must be silenced/turned off. Photographs and recordings are prohibited. If selected for a jury, jurors may not research or access information about the case electronically. The social media part was a prohibition against emailing, tweeting, blogging, using Facebook or any other form of post to identify the specific case or comment on it. There has always been the prohibition against discussing the case while it is in progress and it’s logical that must now extend to the electronic communications that are so prevalent. It would never occur to me to do a post about a case, but I do see how it can be a potential problem. I wasn’t selected for the jury by the way, although it was an all day process to get through all the steps.