Note: I know it’s 4:00 AM. And this rant is sporadic and perhaps won’t make sense to some. Unfortunately I haven’t the articulate tongue or writing ability that my good friend Vann does. So bear with me. First a quote.
“In the world I see – you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You’ll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You’ll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. And when you look down, you’ll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying strips of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway.”
-Tyler Durden, Fight Club
Technology is ruining the way people should communicate and relate.
Text messages, IM’s, Cell Phones.
Now. Now. Now. We want it all, and we want it right now. We can’t wait for anything anymore. It’s doesn’t matter what it is — even relationships! People no longer have time to go out, and learn about a person anymore. Instead we communicate online, where there is no tone of voice, no context, no eye contact, no touching, no demeanors, physical or visual cues. No interpersonal interaction on a real world plane what so ever. I’m guilty of the same thing. Almost every single female with which I am friends with now, I slept with before I even knew their last names. We all have to have it right now. Let’s fuck, and then afterwards, we’ll learn each others’ names, and be friends. All thanks to the internet.
We have clocks on every wall of our homes, TV’s in our cars, and camera’s in our phones.
Why speak in person when we can communicate via an Instant Message? In person where I can communicate information and learn about you. But where I can not build rapport, or have the too often overlooked benefits that accompany talking to someone in person.
Is the answer so simple as to just talk to someone in person? Ten years ago, yes it was. But now, you can no longer talk to people in person. Try asking someone from the age of 15 to 22 a personal question and see what happens. I doubt you’ll get more then a weird or anxious look from someone my age if you asked them what they like to do in their free time. Even if it was in an appropriate setting and context. I am honestly scared to think of what it’s going to be like to try and build any kind of relationship ten years from now.
Arguments. Problems. Friction. Things of that nature. People always want to seem to address these things online. The chances of actually being able to successfully address and resolve an issue between two people online is near impossible. I’ve seen it a thousand times. At anytime, either party can stop talking, they can leave, they can lie. Although people should be addressing concerns such as these in person, they never do.
Most people I know will not say a thing about themselves unless it is via an electronic medium. Some claim that it is because they are shy. Which is valid. However, I am shy myself. I used to be so shy, that I couldn’t be in a room of more then 2 people without feeling anxious and wanting to leave. To this day I struggle with the same problem. But I refuse to hide behind the internet, where emotion and reality is void. Because I being someone who got over his shyness, I know that as long as you have the cover of an electronic medium to hide behind, the shyness with never go away. It doesn’t matter if you’re making friends, finding a mate, interviewing for a job… At one point, you are going to have to make yourself vulnerable. And accept that there is a possibilty that you could be rejected or hurt.
As much as I’ve tried to beat them. I can’t, and have been forced to instead, join them. I have your proof in the fact that the only way I can ever hope to convey this message to more then three people is via a website. I assure you all. Convenience is not without it’s price. It’s a shame it will likely be too late before the world realizes this fact. Ten bucks says I can find a publishing from someone just like me, 50 years ago warning people of what would come of our addiction to fossil fuels…
In person and in reality, doors can be shut, voices can be raised, feelings can be hurt, and deceit is much more difficult.
Things that my generation grow more and more incapable of handling.
“Without pain, without sacrifice, we would have nothing.”
