Sitting at your compy, you've got itunes, facebook, some other facespace duplicate, the weather channel, and sports forums slathered across the desktop. Instant messages throb on the taskbar, and you are intent on revising and re-revising your post attacking a forum troll for being an ignorant poser and not a "real fan." You toggle back to facebook to follow the resulting snarky comments and obscure analogies. Your work is open somewhere on the screen, shrunk to a mini window, a blinking cursor on a white screen. Thank you, Bill Gates, for opening these Windows of opportunity for me. I've got nine windows open and the world floods in to me, all in the comfort of my hamburger pajamas. Or perhaps you prefer to thank Steve Jobs for personal computing. Or Nikolai Tesla. Or whoever. Either way, this is fantastic. Oo! $5 t-shirt with a kitty on it!
Last night, my ordinary cartoon repertoire was interrupted by America Wishes for Talent. Dis-co-nnect. I wasn't up to channel surfing so I chose something serious like CNN and caught the tail end of a feature called "Crackberry'd." It was not as cool as it sounded; basically a bunch of doctors deposing how stressed the average American is and how much they are unable to manage their technology usage. I think that has a lot to do with the American working environment. (Like I know so much about Europe. But I know about their siestas and Germany's vacation season, and so I am on board with Europe.) It also has a lot to do with manners. Just because you CAN answer that email, download that PowerPoint, and dial in to a teleconference any place any time, does not mean it is a GOOD time to do so. The public service commercials for texting while driving follow that idea. "Just wait two seconds or...dead babies." But I also think that haste makes waste. You're not having quality communications and I've had plenty of relationships die when they were relegated to Facebook-only interactions. (It probably sped up the process, actually.) I've never felt that a teleconference was as easy to follow as being present in a room where I can read their facial expressions and get annoyed with their pen-clicking or toe-tapping. The full picture. That's not to say that techie toys don't have their place. They have drastically increased convenience and accessibility. You can't blame the tech toys. But you do have to take control of the robits. You have to unplug sometimes. Put the phone in your purse for your meal. Wait til the bathroom break to check messages if you must. Be there in the moment, because even though your tech toys can be in two places at once, you can't.
Last night, my ordinary cartoon repertoire was interrupted by America Wishes for Talent. Dis-co-nnect. I wasn't up to channel surfing so I chose something serious like CNN and caught the tail end of a feature called "Crackberry'd." It was not as cool as it sounded; basically a bunch of doctors deposing how stressed the average American is and how much they are unable to manage their technology usage. I think that has a lot to do with the American working environment. (Like I know so much about Europe. But I know about their siestas and Germany's vacation season, and so I am on board with Europe.) It also has a lot to do with manners. Just because you CAN answer that email, download that PowerPoint, and dial in to a teleconference any place any time, does not mean it is a GOOD time to do so. The public service commercials for texting while driving follow that idea. "Just wait two seconds or...dead babies." But I also think that haste makes waste. You're not having quality communications and I've had plenty of relationships die when they were relegated to Facebook-only interactions. (It probably sped up the process, actually.) I've never felt that a teleconference was as easy to follow as being present in a room where I can read their facial expressions and get annoyed with their pen-clicking or toe-tapping. The full picture. That's not to say that techie toys don't have their place. They have drastically increased convenience and accessibility. You can't blame the tech toys. But you do have to take control of the robits. You have to unplug sometimes. Put the phone in your purse for your meal. Wait til the bathroom break to check messages if you must. Be there in the moment, because even though your tech toys can be in two places at once, you can't.
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