whittling away at time
is it just me, or has cell phone technology gotten far out of hand? my current phone is the following: a phone, an mp3 player, a miniature TV, a record store, a camera (both still and video), an alarm clock, a scheduler, a game machine, and a web browser. at least. all wrapped up in this compact little thing that we call a cell phone.
my attitude towards cell phones, and their various spinoffs like blackberries and the like, has not really changed. they’ve become an evil necessity for me–my wife and i work opposite shifts, have a son in daycare so contact in an emergency is necessary….but i’ve always found being instantly reachable no matter where i am or what i’m doing is pretty distasteful. there’s nothing quite like waiting for someone to call while you’re on the bus, shopping, visiting another friend….
perhaps it’s technology itself that has gotten the best of our society. something that has just been invented becomes something we desperately need. at 34 years of age, i remember when microwaves, walkmans, cell phones, compact discs, dvd’s (and even videotapes), high-definition TV, laptops (much less computers in general, at least in the home)–none of these things had been thought of yet.
and we got along just fine.
here’s an interesting experiment. go for one day without these things. cook your food on the stove, don’t use a microwave to even dethaw anything. when you go somewhere, turn the cell phone off and leave it at home. if you have a separate walkman, don’t take it with you. turn off your computer (if you’re like me and tend to leave it on), and don’t even look at it.
i’m sure the end result of this would be complete boredom. let’s say that your day consisted of the following plans–wake up, eat breakfast, go downtown to shop for clothes, take the bus back home, eat lunch, relax for a bit, eat dinner, and then go to visit your friend for the rest of the evening. so, you wake up, and you can’t just throw something in the microwave, so you make eggs, ham and toast. you walk to the bus, and there’s no music at all, just the ambient sounds that normally come with living in a city–snippets of conversation, traffic, that kind of thing. you shop for some clothing, but there’s no call-a-friend option this time, so you make a few quick decisions and walk back to the bus with an armload of new clothes. still no walkman, so you’re back out in the natural city environment. home again, and you basically sit down and call your friend to see what time you should go over there. now you’ve got a couple hours to kill before dinner, so you…watch TV. well, it’s dinnertime and you’re absolutely starving, but you can’t just throw a TV dinner in the microwave, so you cook a full meal. you get ready, and hop the bus again to visit your friend, and it’s very quiet because you can’t call your friend as soon as you leave the house and spend the 45 minute trip to your friend’s house already talking.
hmm, this could go on and on. suffice it to say, this person would be cooking a lot more (and eating healthier), would take stock of what’s around him or her on a trip, not be distracted by tens of phone calls, and would save the conversation for arrival at said friend’s house instead of doing the typical “well, i’m almost there….talk to you in 30 seconds” line.
i think the message is becoming more and more clear as time goes on–we need to slow down. relax. take a look around. enjoy the more attractive things about reality as opposed to shutting it all out. in an age of faster cars, faster food, faster computers and faster connections, a faster pace and a faster lifestyle in general, it’s no wonder diagnosable mental illnesses and nervous breakdowns are on the rise. personal health isn’t taking a shot glass full of vitamins everyday–it’s how connected we are to ourselves.
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