It seems absurd to me that if you can't answer an email within a matter of minutes, nonetheless hours, that those trying to get in contact with you nearly have a breakdown. Yes, I went grocery shopping. I left my phone at home. You can wait a few hours before I answer what time we can grab lunch tomorrow. With this rapid communication comes short attention spans, and ungodly expectations. Where is society coming to when I feel guilty for not answering a phone call at 11 p.m.? Everyone just needs to calm down and turn off their cellphone, PDA, laptop, whatever your drug of choice is, and breathe.
Speaking of drug of choice, these blackberrys have gotten out of hand. No where have I seen this epidemic spread more than on Capital Hill. They are the adult version of gameboys. People walk around like mindless zombies staring at a screen and pushing buttons. I was horrified during a briefing on the Hill when a Congressional staff member overtook the speaker with the constant clicking of their blackberry's scroll bar. How important is finding out that the meatpacker's of America are inviting your Congressperson to a barbeque in front of the Capital? Put it away, take it off of super vibrate mode, or leave the room if you must.
I am a self-proclaimed luddite. I don't know a damned thing about new technology. I barely graduated high school with my required 1 unit technology credit, and the courses that I took involved data entry and building bridges with hot glue and sticks. I do, however, catch myself becoming dependent on my email, or my phone. When you catch yourself sending a text message or calling someone for no other reason than the fact that you need to be occupied while walking from point A to point B, you need help.
Therefore, I challenge myself, and the rest of the general population to ween ourselves off of the teat of technology. Turn your cellphone off when you got to bed, or at least put it on silent. Don't feel the compulsion to check your email every six seconds because you're bored. Go outside. Be productive. L.A. Today mentions that we live in a three-window world comprised of televisions, computers, and cellphones. In my household these so called windows were simply referred to as screens. Maybe I should have taken my mom's advice when I sat two-inches from the boob-tube. She'd always scold me, "you'll go blind staring at that screen all day."
4 comments:
Moving to a distant country and leaving behind, or turning off, all forms of communication is something that I have thought about as well. For the last few years, my family and I have traveled to Australia to visit my father’s sister and her family. Each time, I leave my cell phone behind and use minimal communication devices while abroad, and find myself more relaxed than ever. In this stress-induced world we now live in it seems as though the only way to cope and survive is to “hit the spa,” or take a weekend off to relax, in order to rid ourselves of the every day head aches. Therefore, the importance of relaxation in today’s society is paramount to the way in which we live our lives. I think that your proposal that we need to stop being “consumed” by these devices is an accurate, and necessary, suggestion.
Your discussion surrounding the effects of communication on our interpersonal relationships rang true with my ideas too. Technology has completely transformed the way that we interact with one another, and we are often expected to act a certain way (altering our behavior) when dealing with forms of communication. Your example, not responding to an email in a matter of minutes upsets the sender, is truthful and it is unfortunate that we have become so reliant on technologies that we feel uncomfortable “walking from A to B” without talking on the phone.
I think that as technology continues to advance and we find new ways to interact with one another in this “3 Window World,” our face-to-face communication and interpersonal relationships will only continue to diminish. Because interpersonal communication is often a prerequisite for the development of intimate conversations, friendships, romantic relationships, etc., we must genuinely make some sort of effort so that our children, and our children’s children, do not forget about the beauty and importance in simply being inactive and “switching off.”
This was a great post. I know that I am definitely guilty of reading my emails, incessently BBMing and texting and mindlessly calling people just to occupy myself walking to and from my house to campus. I agree with you about the hysteria that surrounds what happens if you are, god forbid, off your email for a few days, or out of cell reception. Reading this realized that I definitely need to chill out when I can't reach someone, and come to think of it, would love that same luxury in return. Good job!!
Our reliance on cell phones (and other technological innovations, of course...but I think any cell phone/blackberries/etc. are the worst) is just horrifying. It is so odd to think of a time where I was not texting people constantly...and yet, that was only a few years ago...and I was fine! Great point about the scary point being when we need something simply to occupy us on a journey from point A to point B...it's awful! Great post!
I myself am horrible with my cell phone and can relate to your sense of "guilt" when not answering people's phone calls. It is important to delve into the reasons why although technology has made communication more available it has really cheapened the sincerity of it.
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