Did You Hear What I Said!?

“By failing to understand the physiological needs of our bodies, by ignoring human limitations we have followed technology and economics into a world that risks becoming unfit for the human race. We have tied together the natural global village but forgotten the temporal dimension that lies at the essence of our being” (Moore-Ede, Martin).

The strong smell of coffee is in the air as if enveloping the room in a dense cloud. Groups of many shapes and sizes huddle around small round tables and sip their cups of warm liquid as they converse with the world outside of the café. At all of the tables an individual sits, with a computer or some other sort of electronic communicator in their hand or lap and continues to fervently type away at the bright screen in front of their faces. Moreover, all the time avoiding the person sitting nearest themselves. The only sound in the café is that of the click of the keyboards and the beeps of phones. The murmur of voices does not exist and true communication is lost.
Is this not the picture of the public places frequented by groups of people from around the world? The individuals of the group are sitting with each other but they are not communicating with each other, they are communicating with others outside the café. Instead of spending our time face to face with an individual and having a deep intellectual conversation, we choose to ignore the task and skirt around it finding a way out by suddenly remembering a text message that urgently needed to be sent. Technology has helped our society in many great ways (through such learning tools as Rosetta Stone © and places to communicate about politics such as blogs), but in other ways it has hindered our ability to do things that are supposed to be in the very fibers of our beings: communication!
Due to our advances in science and technology, some of our intellectual and literary skills have been down graded and regarded almost as silly or ridiculous. In history, those traits and abilities were seen as something of great worth and esteem (Rulford, Robert). For those of us not in the history books who love books, it has been evident that we have seen this firsthand.
One Sunday afternoon my first year at school, I was sitting quietly at my desk reading a book. It was not a textbook or part of an assignment for a class; it was an enjoyable book full of mystery and suspense. As I continued to pour over the words on the crisp white pages, my roommate glided into the room and proceeded to stare at me as if I was a specimen in a museum. After looking at me for several minutes, she casually asked me what class I was studying for and I proclaimed that I was not; I was just enjoying a good book. My roommate looked at me oddly for a moment and then suggested that I get a Facebook© account so that I could meet people and not have to be sitting alone reading a book. All of sudden I felt wrong inside; it was as if she had exposed my nakedness to the world. I was ashamed of something that used to be enjoyable to me. Book reading and expanding one’s mind used to be an art form that is now only considered a paragraph in a history book.
Throughout the seventeenth century, people would pay sums of money in order to meet in people’s homes; these meetings were referred to as salons. In these salons, the group would spend hours communicating on topics such as politics, religion, and art. The people who would be talking would speak so passionately that they would raise their voices or laugh in delight. The getting together and meeting to talk was vital to their social existence and encouraged reading and study of the subjects, which were discussed (D’Evelyn, Tom). How could something that used to be so important and so entertaining be regarded as ridiculous. Expanding the mind via literature has never been a bad thing; in fact, it is responsible for creating much good in the world.
So, what have we lost? In the twenty-first century, conversation is purposefully avoided. The moment that the word religion or politics seeps from the lips of an individual, like a computer virus into a program, the other individual quickly changes the subject as to avoid catastrophic damage to their own ideals. Recently, people are afraid of being offended and challenged. If the name Jesus Christ seeps from a person’s lips or if the subject of abortion being wrong is talked about, someone becomes hardheaded and guarded, as if protecting themselves from homicide to their opinions and religious beliefs. To avoid the subject the person takes out his or her phone and begins to text message a friend about how shocked he or she is that one would speak of such things in front of him or her. A person’s trepidation allows him or her to use technology as a crutch and has given the individual the opportunity to be lazy. If their ideas are not challenged, they have no need to do research and study to create a good argument. Therefore, conversation becomes a petty instance of “hi, how are you” and that is the end of it. In addition, no one really learns anything or is able to have a meaningful moment with someone they deemed important in their life. Friends no longer carry on conversations and never comprehend how their loved one felt about an issue.
What has happened to grammar? IDK and @ are not words. They are computer symbols that should only be used in the realm of cyberspace or are used in specific job fields, which are not always understood in nonprofessional terms. It seems that symbols such as these have crept into other parts of our lives and have corrupted our ability to spell. There have been instances of students using these symbols in essays and projects, where they do not belong. However, why should one need to spell when the Microsoft word processor does it for you? I must admit that these tools are good, but in moderation. Being able to double check spelling and grammar is a good thing but when it becomes a crutch so much that a person cannot spell on their own, and then we have a problem. The use of computers and cell phones has become a drug more addictive and more deadly to the human mind than anything else ever seen in the human race. People slowly start to use emails and stop writing letters. Soon they are sending text messages and not talking on the phone at all. After that, they spend time watching television shows and movies on YouTube instead of spending time reading a book. It is a sad moment in history.
Where are we headed? If we continue at this rate, we will be illiterate and unable to learn (Schwartz, Susan). Computers will read, do work, and slowly control every aspect of our lives. Global awareness is important, but how can we be aware of what is written in a newspaper or magazine article if we can no longer read? Moreover, how are we to comprehend news shows on politics and disease epidemics when we cannot understand basic vocabulary? Technology has become another form of idol worship that has the ability to engulf the world in its dark snare. There is nothing “old fashioned” or weird about having a meaningful conversation or reading a book. On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with Facebook© or YouTube© (but not to the extent of getting carpel tunnel or going blind), but how about shutting the computer down for a couple of hours to go outside of the room and get some fresh air (Norwich, William).
The challenge is not necessarily to read more books and have more dynamic conversations, but maybe just be able to converse openly and honestly. In this way we can spread global awareness of issues by word of mouth, to allow the truth and real knowledge to drift into the limelight; it will encourage someone to truly make a difference in our world. Nevertheless, with conversation there must be listening, so how about taking the head phones out and putting the IPod© away.
Let us talk!