I often encounter things that, I feel, justify my sometimes-dystopian view of technology.
For instance the earbud-donning young women I have frequently seen jogging at twilight in Los Angeles County’s many parks make me fear that even our most basic survival instincts are losing out to electronic entertainment. The rattlesnake along the trail, the scantily clad weirdo in the bushes, the pack of hungry coyotes, and the skulking mountain lion – all possibilities on a park trail in LA County – should be these joggers’ primary concern, not music. It makes me want to run out of the bushes while waving my arms frantically and shout “what are you thinking?” to these oblivious harriers.
Then there’s Facebook, the social media website that has turned life into a never-ending yearbook and made over-sharing cool. Throughout most of civilized humanity’s history, telling friends and acquaintances about the interesting things you found in your morning stool was considered a major faux pas -- that is, something only a complete social imbecile would do. Not in the era of Facebook. Today, if you don’t share such things, you are an un-vetted outcast who should be viewed with suspicion.
There’s also the way these distractions seem to have altered our interactions with each other. Today, when I walk into a coffee shop, the scene is usually dominated by 20-somethings seemingly separated by a personal bubble. Conversation is a thing of the past in these places. Instead, gazes are directed downward at smartphones, which are often utilized to access the latest over-sharing tidbit from a shameless friend – who’s likely sitting across the table.
The bottom line is, to borrow a colorful phrase from an old-school lady friend of mine (if she were 35 years younger, we might be married): I often feel that technology is threatening to turn our brains into vestigial organs.
I’ve also frequently wondered: How many Chinese kids does it take to build a smartphone in a fume-laden sweatshop? And: How big are the open-pit mines where the rare earth metals for such phones come from?
But despite these concerns, there’s a part of me that knows I’m wrong about technology. I suspect, in certain moments of weakness, that I have prematurely developed into an unreasonable curmudgeon and the world is threatening to leave me behind as a result. These moments usually arise when my latest-gadget-wielding roommate Mickey preaches about how technology is enabling small businesses to thrive or I find myself in awe of the internet while doing research.
For me, it’s not the ability of the internet to bring long-lost Jr. High School sweethearts together through Facebook to discuss bodily functions and shared nostalgia that’s impressive. What is truly fascinating about the internet is its ability to bring information of the most esoteric variety to the unwashed masses, including lay writers like me.
Over the past few years, I’ve discovered videos of deceased intellectual and creative giants such as Carl Jung, John Lennon, Terrance McKenna, Bob Marley, Christopher Hitchens, Erich Fromm, David Foster Wallace, Hunter S. Thompson, Jim Morrison, and Aldous Huxley. And it was easy -- just a few keyboard hits and mouse clicks on Youtube enabled me to become a slightly more enlightened person. No effort needed.
Deep down, I think it’s my admiration for such information that colors my disdain for Facebook and its users’ billions of “status updates.” I can’t help but wonder why, with all the information so easily available to us online courtesy of humanity’s greatest minds, do we focus our attention on what our cousin had for dinner or whom our fifth grade acquaintance is dating?
My participation in this blog is my attempt, albeit limited and a bit late, to come to terms with this new age. It’s one of over-sharing, sure, but it also seems to have some promise.
Maybe dystopia isn’t around the bend after all.
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