Letters from North
America
It
seems to me that the
more ‘inventive’ we get
with the gadgets we
develop…the more we
complicate our lives.
Bear with me here.
Twenty years ago, you
had to actually memorize
phone numbers if you
wanted to call someone.
You had a ‘phone’ book
where you stored all of
the numbers you used the
most. From time to time
you had to update this
book and more than
likely you called old
friends to check up on
them as you went through
the updating process.
This was especially
noticeable during the
holiday season when you
were making out your
Christmas card list as
well. Not only would you
get someone’s current
address but you’d play
catch up on their lives
over the past year.
All of that has gone by
the wayside. Now you
store all of your
numbers on your cell
phone or whatever you
happen to use and you
scroll down to choose a
name to be called or you
simply say … ‘home’ and
your phone makes the
call for you. In most
cases you don’t even
recall the numbers of
your kids or best
friends. If you lose
your cell phone it
becomes the equivalent
of being stranded on a
desert island in the
middle of the Pacific.
In fact when we are out
of ‘cell tower coverage
areas’ we often feel
like we are on some
desert island or remote
part of the earth. We
cannot seem to be
without some form of
communication device at
all times. I know people
who get so paranoid if
their phone doesn’t ring
that they call
themselves to see if the
thing is actually
working or not.
Madness.
All of this new
technology over the past
thirty or so years is
great and all that, but
what happens when we
leave out the human
element? What’s going to
happen if we stop
socializing in person
and only communicate via
some form of electronic
media? Look around you
when you pull up to a
stop sign or a red
light, everyone in the
cars around you have
their cell phones out
and are totally
concentrated upon
getting their message of
the moment out before
the light changes and
they have to start
moving again. Sometimes
they are texting to
someone who is riding in
the car with them. It’s
almost as if our society
has become afraid to
talk to someone in
person.
Back in the early
fifties everyone thought
television would be the
death of all of us. We
were warned not to watch
too many hours a week or
sit too close to the
set. Then we were
cautioned about going
blind unless we had a
television lamp sitting
on top of the set
itself. I can’t recall
hearing about anyone
ever being a victim of
too much television or
being blinded because
they didn’t have a
television lamp.
Today we have children
in our society who never
venture outside of their
rooms. They only come
out at night and avoid
direct sunlight. Nearly
every new television
show has something to do
with vampires or
zombies. I suppose it
must be some sort of
cultural thing, not my
generation. The youth of
today can live entirely
online without any need
for actual verbal
conversation or human
contact. Besides
texting, you can throw
in Facebook, MySpace and
Tweeting and you are
good to go. Unlock the
bedroom door, drop in a
pizza every so many
hours and you might not
see your child until
they need a car or money
for college. They will
surface when these
events occur, trust me.
There seems to be this
mad rush to collect as
many ‘online’ friends as
humanly possible. So you
see folks with thousands
of ‘friends’ on their
web pages, most of these
people they do not know,
or will ever meet but
they seem perfectly
happy to share every
detail of their lives
with perfect strangers.
Personally I could not
care less about someone
I don’t know telling me
about what kind of bagel
they are eating. Who
cares?
No one, much less me,
can deny the fact that
computers have enhanced
our lives in so many
positive ways. It’s just
that I think we should
slow down and turn the
things off at some point
in our day and sit on
the porch or in the
living room with a cold
beer or cup of coffee
and actually converse
with someone, face to
face before we lose the
ability to do so.
So stop reading this,
turn off your computer,
turn off that cell phone
and walk into your kid’s
room or next door and
start talking about the
weather or politics. You
can always get a
conversation started if
you just try.
Comments got to
www.pearyperry.com.
Complaints go nowhere.
