Can You Hear Me Now?

 I have a feeling the Romans might feel right at home (frighteningly so) much like the barbarians in those credit card commercials. :)

The first priority of any organization or institution is indeed to exist and grow. One has to wonder at what point such an entity becomes interested in perpetuating certain problems in order to guarantee its own survival. Oh dear, I sound like a cynic.


As we're discussing the pros and cons of all our new found connectivity via communication now available in the blink of an eye I must say, like you, I'm torn. On one hand I love having the connection to people I haven't seen in years or don't get to see anywhere nearly as often as I would like but on the other hand it is addicting, as you point out, hard to walk away from and at times a massive time waster. A couple of illustrations come to mind. Let's bring it home, literally.

Recently my ultra busy daughter made time to watch a movie with me at home. While I curled up in a chair anxious to give this precious time with her my undivided attention, she arrived to take up temporary residence on the sofa smart phone AND laptop in tow. She texted, looked up information about all the actors (the internet eliminates the "what was that other movie he was in?" discussion my parents used to have), updated her Facebook status, and did some shopping. I had a multitasking headache just watching her since I am only capable of doing one thing at a time. She finds it amusing (and irritating) that if she is telling me something I STOP what I'm doing to listen. To her, the inability to multitask is practically a character flaw while her diverted attention seems to me to border on rudeness, a generation gap of sorts. It's not just as an entire culture we can't seem to find the balance but in our personal relationships as well. How many times have you seen a couple, obviously on a first date, BOTH texting other people?  It does seem as if our hyper-connectivity is damaging our ability to actually connect in any profound way. It is becoming harder and harder to simply enjoy someone's presence and to listen, as well as to be heard, both primary relationship skills. Well, at least they used to be. :)

Ah, but there are always two sides, aren't there? On Thanksgiving, I was the one craving a moment to catch up on Facebook which I did the first chance I got. There was a community there. Friends near and far were posting greetings and recipes, pictures of family, kind words and blessings were exchanged instantly between a large group of people whose day would not have included time to pick up the phone for a more personal greeting and with whom real "face" time proved impossible. In a way I felt that I had been a part of my friends' celebrations and it was nice to know that everyone was doing pretty much the same thing at the same time. Comforting somehow. It isn't the same as sitting across the table from someone, but something is better than nothing and it does fill in the gaps nicely between those times, allowing conversation to pick up in the "now" instead of having to "catch up" first.

As for "polarization that can come from accessing primarily only one (or one kind of) source," again that's something I think we saw the first roots of with cable. The advent of the 24 hour cable news channels became places where we now have "our" news and "their" news as opposed to THE news (facts are such annoying little things after all). All of which, as you allude to has carried over and mushroomed on the internet, in many ways worse because people can remain anonymous while spewing venom or ridiculous lies.


So once again we find ourselves searching for balance made all the more difficult by the constantly shifting sand of technology and isolation.

Here's a question for you my civic minded, history loving friend: Whether we're discussing ancient Rome, a Star Trek like future, or the issues we're discussing here, don't the problems seem to be the same ones over and over (or at least very similar)? We change the speed of course, and the window dressing but other than that it all always seems so...familiar.

Or am I wrong? (I'm sure you'll tell me. :))