I am starting to draft my post earlier in the day I have noticed. I just started working out again and I no longer have to set my alarm, the charlie horses in my legs usually wake me up now...I can't believe it's gotten that bad...
Anyhoo,
The other day I was talking with my mom who noted that around the 1960's when t.v.'s started showing up, social activities declined. Then I asked her if she hadn't noticed a much larger decline since the Internet and satellite cable were introduced. While technology came fast and hard for us the last decade or so, it also took awhile before everyone got sucked in, I mean caught up in it.
I mean, I am sure we can all agree that technology is wonderful in so many ways, we wouldn't be here reading and wandering through each others blogs if it was not for it. But am I the only one who notices a more acute sense of isolation when I am out and about? People seem really cozy in their cars that never break down and their cellphone on their side. Casual conversation seems to have dwindled as many are already talking and/or texting to someone else in the grocery store line up. I know that over the years I have sensed that something was amiss but couldn't really nail it down as I myself had adapted to the progression of high speed everything in my own life.
Now that I have been introduced and seduced by technology myself, I know that if I were alone for extended periods, I would rely on my Internet to make me feel still connected to the world. However, 15 years ago, when everyone else wasn't feeling that way too, I would go find a coffee shop and join a table, my laugh ringing harmoniously with theirs and I may leave with a hug or a pat on the back, the soothing element of human touch. And I would feel more energized and part of the greater good.
Two things I have noticed recently:
1) I rode public transit awhile ago. It's been years. I used to ride the bus all the time when I was in the city and I also used to ride commercial buses for travel. I used to meet all sorts of interesting people and had some good laughs along the way. The day I took the bus, everyone was very stoic. There were a lot of teens coming home from school and every single one of them had iPods and were starting straight ahead. Not saying one thing the whole ride to the person next to them. I felt like I was in an elevator. I don't know if it was the particular day or if that is really what it is like now.
2) One day in the summer the power went out during the day. We all sat around for awhile not expecting it to last long. However, it did and we were soon all getting fidgety. So, we thought maybe it would be a good time to go do some yard work. Apparently everyone else in the neighbourhood felt the same restlessness and they were outside too. Everyone waved over the fence, joked, laughed and got a lot done. It was eerie in that I honestly don't think I have seen that much action in the 10 years I have been in the neighbourhood. It made me feel circa 1980 or so. And it felt strange. Good strange. It was the real time that the change in our socializing techniques had registered so strongly.
Right now, as I am finishing this blog entry. My girlfriend is over. I am checking things on my laptop and she is pecking away at her iPhone. Social ineptness at its best.
