A few days ago while ascending an escalator (and by "ascending" I mean letting the escalator do all the heavy lifting), a succession of three people passed by on the escalator next to mine. What caught my eye was that all three were completely absorbed by some type of technological device during their short journey past me. This will not come as a shock to anyone, nor does it even come as a surprise to me. At the same time there was something deeply unsettling about what confronted my eyes on that particular morning--something I still haven't been able to shake.
On a daily basis I witness many of the following activities: people commuting with their I-Pods, sipping coffee and basking in the soft glow of a laptop screen, texting while driving, in the bathroom, or during intimate social moments, or carrying on loud and fantastically dull one-way conversations via their cell phones. At least in my town (which is more of a metropolis), I doubt I could go for five minutes without seeing someone interacting with what can most aptly be described as a technological appendage. The unsettling issue doesn't seem to be the use of technological devices per se, but rather their overuse, the over-dependence on them many people demonstrate without realization, and the in-your-face usage--so much so that at times it seems like there's no escape from seeing phones, laptops, and I-Pads galore.
Is this modern life as we know it, and do I just need to get used to it? Am I acting like a crotchety elder, shaking my would-be cane at everyone who avails themselves of the conveniences most commercial and portable technology offers? Is joining a remote tribe in the Amazon or Papua New Guinea the only way to escape this juggernaut that is technology, which seems to be steadily claiming ownership of so many of our cultures and so many of our daily thoughts and movements?
I am aware of the irony that I'm using a laptop to create this post, that I own a cell phone, that I text, and so on. As stated in other posts, technology can be wonderful. It can simplify our lives (or complicate them), provide invaluable information and knowledge, save lives, extend the limits of what we're capable of doing, and keep us in contact with others in near or far-off places (isn't it also ironic that it can also distance us from our present surroundings and the people physically present with us?). Lately technology has seemed like such a double-edged sword. Clearly I'm not the first person to recognize this, but sometimes I find myself wondering how to escape technology while still harnessing its advantages and vast benefits.
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