The Flight From Conversation

Why, do you suppose? What's the attraction/payoff?

This article saddens me. Mostly because I see myself in some of the behaviors described and am not satisfied with the lack of richness in my interactions with connections.

I thought I was old school as well, but have found myself yearning to pick up my device in the middle of conversations in case I miss something that will give me instant gratification but no real "food".

I think I'll forward this article to all my family and close friends. And maybe post a link on my facebook and linkedin pages, just for irony's sake!

This problem is getting worse. It all started when that caveman discovered fire, and everyone started just staring at the flickering flames. Then a guy started scraping pictures on the cave wall. Then symbols on little rocks and things. It all got worse with those dumb papyrus rolls! At least they weren't wasting hides though. Before you know it they invent pieces of paper and even wooden blocks with symbols on them, because they are too lazy to make their own symbols. Some were still content to write on walls. They called them hieroglyphics. It all fell apart when some jerk named Gutenberg invented a machine to print hundreds of pieces of paper and glue them in "books." Then all these people started using electricity. Telephones really got in the way. Much worse than telegrams. Then they got tired of the paper and the books. Phonographs, and radios came along. All people wanted to do was listen to them. Television was the worst. As if staring at the fire wasn't bad enough! They wanted to make something called bits out of their electric toys. Before you knew it everyone wanted to read everything! Everyone thought they were as good as everyone else! It was harder to control people! They were all using their own minds and had access to everything that was ever written. They spent a lot of time looking at naked people on their tablets. They didn't talk to people around them as much, because they could communicate with whomever thy wanted to. It was awful. What next. Some kind of hive mind where we can smell ideas and emotions, and have special glasses to see whatever we want whenever we want. Maybe even see through stuff? How are people going to control other people, and make them pay attention to what is really important. We should start a really big fire with all those fancy inventions we made, and burn up all those nasty gadgets!

Hm-m-m? I would describe fire as being more noticed rather than discovered. I'd place my bets on fire being present almost from the git-go. It happens too often in nature via natural mechanisms, like lightning strikes, volcanic eruptions, lava flow, (and of course animals that smoked cigarettes) etc. Knowing that it felt warm would be reason enough to observe what seemed to create it (wood, etc.). The rest, as they say...

Not to worry, though. I think cleverness is self-correcting.

(And just think how long it took before someone could exclaim, "HOLY %&*^!!!," Whenever lightning came close. But you're right. It has gone downhill. Printing that vs. actually being there to see it and hear your bud say it doesn't hold a candle, so to speak. But there is hope. Now, that sort of event can be "captured" and uploaded to YouTube. Still, a video ain't like being there. On the other hand, if there are any other "accidents" connected with the shock of the experience you'll be spared the side effect.)

Your point is well taken, though. It's the relentlessness of it all that grates on older people's sensitivities. People who have grown up with the capability of constant, almost instantaneous, communication with others, almost panic if they lose it for even a few hours. Sad to say, even older folks have been infected because it becomes a habit.

Solitude shouldn't be cause for panic. Better all those fancy gadgets be our servants, than the other way around. Too often, it feels like it's the other way around.

Abraham Lincoln's father Thomas was a hard taskmaster. He despised that Abraham liked to read books, a habit that was encouraged by his step mother Sarah. Thomas was considered a good story teller though, something that Abraham became well known for as well. Many people have been criticized for reading too much. Watching TV too much, etc. Few have the gift of story telling any more. Of course we do have audio books, which are really better IMHO. I had a platoon sergeant who hated that I liked to read. Everyone is different. Modern gadgets are overwhelming, and they do change the way we are. They even change the formation of our brains, and the way we behave and think. I sleep with an earplug in to listen to Coast to Coast AM. Partially because I have tinnitus. Partially because I worked nights for twenty years and developed the habit. I had a 9 volt radio since I was a teenager though. My first radio was a geranium diode set that I hooked up to pipes etc.

Yes, my Dad thought I read too much at one point -- by the first year of college.

I don't know any numbers for sure, but the few young people I've asked directly about it, don't seem to read much, and don't express much interest in it, either. Once most of us engage life to the point of having to support ourselves, our time for such things does diminish. But my interest in reading didn't wane. I just had less time to do it. We all do find (or try to make) time for our passion(s) in life.

How the Chinese handle digital conversation. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303459004577364190134631110.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us

Fortunately Chinese citizens are very expert at getting around "The Great Firewall."

Their courage in defying state authority is very impressive to me. Digital conversation may be safer than talk, because of all the spies among them. China now demands that everyone use their real identity online. So it is a crime to use a false ID. I imagine it is also a crime to use encryption.