Electronics have changed the way we live - for better and worse. I have blogged before on the impact electronics have had on our relationships; but earlier this week it really occurred to much how much it has handicapped us as individuals as well. 1984 has come to pass - the Orwellian "nightmare" that - in 1984 - seemed laughable. God Love Ronald Reagan! I digress.... The idea of human kind being overtaken by its own creation has been a staple of science fiction for decades - but it's time has come.
We not only have lost the idea of patience; but in large part our abilities to self entertain and think. There was a time - in my life time and many of yours - where a phone call was a gift. You could go throughout a day... DAYS even..... without thinking about who might call. You had to actually be stationary in your own home; where you could concentrate on your conversation - not these mindless passive interchanges that have become the norm. People used to sit on benches or stand in line and CONTEMPLATE what was happening - within them; around them; to them. People had to MOVE in order to change a particular entertainment device - decision combined with action. Nowadays; you never go anywhere and see someone just enjoying the things around them - even in others company. Always the face is staring blankly at their phone - a world where emails and texts and calls and videos await. It's frightening to think what is in store for current and future generations - so much of anything these days is passive ways to waste time..... what type of attention spans will these kids have? What desire will there to be to invent or create when entertainment is one click away? The machines have taken over as our collective unimind - our calendar, our keeper, our entertainer, our link to the world at large. I'm aware there are plenty of good uses for this technology - and I myself possess many forms of it - I'm not being ironic by blogging about it. My contention is that WE.... the users..... have made it more powerful than our own minds - we have allowed this to happen to our collective. Then we ask these companies for more..... now Microsoft is coming out with a gaming system that will control ALL of your entertainment media and requires only that you use your voice. People have literally degenerated to the point where moving a THUMB is too much effort. So we will be left to sit in our homes; stuffing our faces and never having need to move for anything. Electronic Meth..... that's what a drug user lives like. Yet we push on..... never satisfied until Big Brother Entertains us; feeds us; clothes us; provides shelter for us - and we don't have to think anymore. Computerized lobotimization... Take the blue pill, Neo. Another thing I notice has become an issue from a rather goos idea is that of multi tasking. I recognized how ingrained it has become when; the other day; on the way to the restroom I thought to grab my phone to check email. Another thing that has taken our ability to stay within.... Always we must have something available to distract us from the "boredom" of daily life. Maddening. We don't need to fill every second with as many tasks as possible - we need to coordinate our lives and handle each piece of our day on its own - full attention to accomplish the task. As a species; we survived millenniums with out the ability to make a phone call from an eatery; without answering emails on vacation; without texting a friend to find out WHICH store they are standing near. We took time to reflect - on our day; our life; or what we felt about mint chocolate chip ice cream. I mean, we took time to just sit back and smile at the sights and sounds that encased us. No more. A moment of peace is a moment wasted..... there's always SOMETHING I could be doing....
As a race, we have become increasingly disconnected. From nature; from people; from our loved ones; from our minds; from ourselves. Anything, when put out of use - will dull and eventually disintegrate. "Use it or lose it". Our minds very rarely have need to be used - and it shows in todays world -grammar; grades; morals; a generation of the internally lost. At some point; we will all just be able to hook into the machine (Welcome to the Machine..... GREAT song!)and live vicariously through the events and efforts of a fabricated universe. It's honestly too late to turn back..... In the future; I will be diagnosed as old because I will be able to start a sentence saying, "Once, before there was a PC in EVERY HAND....."
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