Does it bother anyone else that we can never go back...to the non-social days of media?
Remember when you had to call a person to see how they were? Remember the sound of their voice? The real-time conversations? And I'm not talking about IM-ing. That is not real time if one of you can walk out of the room and get side-tracked by a dozen different things before coming back to pick up the conversation.
Twitter, you argue? Not real time. Replies are hardly real-time. And who's idea was that phrase anyway--real time. As if there is a false time, an unreal time. I've had times that were unreal. It felt pretty un-real when I got "the call". It was pretty un-real when I held my new granddaughters in my arms. They were so identical it was unreal.
But it's the real that can no longer be defined. That is your assignment, should you choose to accept it. Define real. Find real.
I'm afraid real life will require 'real' vacations, where we will go to an island where there is nothing wireless, electronic, or prepared for us. We'll all go insane from withdrawals, kill each other, and try to build computers from bones. Aliens will look down and decide we're not worthy of our world and toast us. And we'll deserve it. All because we couldn't define what's real.
So find the answer, people. Save the world.
4 comments:
Several years ago after a hurricane, our power went out for a week. I lasted an hour before I was playing a nintendo gameboy by candle light. I don't want to go back. I like it here in the future.
As a mom, their are times when I hate the technology that has taken up our lives. I resent that 24/7 the hum of electricity is like the heartbeat of our home. But when I'm out running errands and my 7 year old calls on my cell to say he just threw-up in the office, I am ever so grateful for all that we have today.
I don't know if it makes it more or less 'real', but I prefer talking to people face to face or over the phone. I often wonder about the lack of social skills that come with all this lack of 'real' contact with people. Progress is good, and change is inevitable, but they come at a cost.
I feel your pain, Lesli
There's something so "efficient" about social media today. Can you imagine what it was like to communicate or correspond 100 years ago? However, in this time of instant gratification and constant stimulation, there's a certain something missing. A romance, perhaps? Or the feeling of anticipation?
Post a Comment