I understand those feelings. I see the heads bowed down to the palms in prayer of calendar checking and email deleting while crossing Manhattan streets ignoring honking buses that almost skin them alive. I try not to shake my head at the teenagers on their phones in a crowd of their screaming friends or scold myself when I'm asking if my mom she can still hear me while I'm cooking dinner and setting the smoke alarm off.
We can instead chose to think of these things as tools to better communication, education, information, our life station, reputation... [Go with it people...] Or we can just stop judging it all and chalk it up to interesting. We may not be learning the things our folks did but we are learning something.
The avalanche cannot be stopped. But perspective can.
I overheard two young teenagers behind me the other day. They were arguing in that passive agressive way that only two tween girls can - or little old ladies...with similies and explitives poured on top:
1: So, like, if you were on why didn't you f*%king message me back? Or write on my wall? I thought you would at least, like, f*%king do that."
2: I texted you and then left you a voice mail. I, like, totally f*%king get it why you'd wonder but like, f*%k, I don't f*%king know why you didn't get them. I Facebook but not, like, all the f*%king time."
Their conversation went back and forth like this for many blocks. The same agendas, different words. I turned into a deli, piled my pay-as-it-weighs food into my plastic, disposable container and went upstairs to sit in the public space. I pulled out my iPhone like everyone else sitting in the dining area - with or without human companions - and called my husband to keep me company while I ate.
I can only speak for myself but I know I don't use certain parts of my brain anymore because frankly, I don't have to. I can't spell, or multiply. I have no idea what day it is or what time it is...how to get to where I'm going or when I'm supposed to be there without what I call my iBrain. I like to think this frees me up to use my head for other things but I think it might just free me up to fill it with more questions.
If I were to give advice to the world. [Excuse me?] I would say to be present about these technoligical external neurocenters and don't waste precious time when with other humans.
3: Do you realize you two have spent over five minutes arguing about your virtual relationship? You could be giving each other an actual 'XO'.
But then it occurs to me. This is just another aspect to relationships. We continually challenge the simple. Have we mastered the simple? What is mastering?
MANY voices in THAT head, the world wide global universal brain.
PS: Right now, as I am typing this...there is an advertisement that declares "CLICK HERE TO STOP NARCISSISM. narcissismcured.com".
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