Tied Down—The Wireless Culture

I have often wondered what effect technology has on human interactions and the way in which we tolerate and relate to each other.

There are obvious facts that show, as far as war goes, that killing people has grown more and more impersonal throughout the short course of human history and war. The honor that was once strongly attached to defending ones’ countrymen and kin has faded to an extreme extent. Could this detached feeling toward war and the military be directly related to the detached ways of killing and defending that are now in place? Now a threat to a country could come from thousands of miles away. The menace in the eyes of the enemy is never seen by many. Perhaps the day men dropped their swords and picked up guns is when they lost the intricate connection between man and country.

The use of cell phones in American society did not alarm me at first. Like most, I was sucked in by the convenience of it all. I got my first phone about six years ago and I could call from nearly anywhere (except my high school which was apparently steel plated to avoid this) and talk to anyone. My parents preached up the phone as an object of safety and necessity. Saying it would come in handy if I was ever stranded on the side of the road or being chased down by a murderer (apparently they assumed I would be fast enough to make a phone call while running for my life). It was after I reached college that I realized some of the negative results these portable communication devices were having on society, especially my generation and those younger than I.

Text messaging only made the problem worse. People seem to no longer be able to communicate with each other in person. The two hour long conversations I used to have on the phone with friends have now become sporadic texts throughout the day. The long walks with inquiry and intense connection faded into the dark when I was merely 16. Text messages don’t tend to be very deep and intuitive either. Have you ever gotten a text that says anything like: “Do you feel that life is being lived to its greatest possible extent?” No, more often than not even my philosophy minor friends sent texts like this: “Work Sucks.” That is not even to go into the typical texts many receive utilizing a horrid internet shorthand. People are now asked out and broken up with via text message. Face to face interaction is rare, but so too is interaction by speaking on the phone itself!

Facebook, as I have only come to realize as of late disconnects the young community from itself even more than text messaging. Having the ability to look at a “friend’s” profile gives the illusion of being connected with them. This makes it far too easy to not actually communicate with people that you truly care about. Relationships are too often defined by what Facebook declares to the world. The lack of a relationship post on the website can cause conflict between two people that truly do care for each other. Facebook demands a definition of relationships, and the lack of this definition is frowned upon by most of my generation. Facebook also makes dealing with death almost unbearable because the profiles of the deceased often remain, untouched and strangely alive, after friends have passed away.

How do we mend this horrible tangle of invisible wires? I cannot think of a way. I could stop using my cell phone for text messaging, delete my profile on Facebook, and campaign for a more personal way to fight wars. Yet, none of that would make a difference on the whole. I would simply extricate myself even more from personal interaction.

Perhaps we should all stop posting on blogs and reading them. Maybe it’s time for a picnic?