I Wonder....
What are the ramifications to our society when everyone seems to be walking and riding around with earphones connected to i pods, or cds, or wireless phones? Will our primary focus be on hearing rather than seeing? Will the number of car accidents rise? Will the number of muggings increase? Will all awareness of what is going on around us disappear? I wonder these things when I see,(and hear), and increasing number of people doing just this, totally absorbed into whatever is funneling into their ear/s at the moment. Will people become even more isolated from each other or numb to anyone beyond themselves?
Last night as the B train crossed the Manhattan Bridge, I looked out at the East River---to the East at the starkness of the clouds and dark blue of the sky behind the Queensborough and Triborough Bridges and ports along the Brooklyn shore, and to the West the sunset's colors just beginning to show behind the Brooklyn Bridge and Statue of Liberty. I looked around the car: people clearly from all over, very NYC and part of the wonder of this crossroads of the world. Corny, but so evident and I felt priveleged to be here. And then the guy to my left started screaming obscenitites. I was ready to move to the other end of the car, then I saw he was on a phone that only has service for a few minutes until we disappear again in the tunnel beneath Chinatown. A rap song suddenly to my left--someone else has a call to answer. I look around. Over half of the people are attached to one device or another. I wonder what would happen if an emergency happened and the conductor or engineer had a message helpful to us to save ourselves? Only theory I guess, not a practical concern because the speaker system would probably be impossible to understand even with two available ears. And I wonder what would happen if one of the passengers needed help and screamed? Would anyone hear? Well, perhaps if we made lots of frantic motions. But what if it was a heart attack and the passenger merely passed out silently? Would anyone notice? And if anyone did notice, would they finish listening to their song, or their phone conversation, before acting thereby putting the emergency "on hold?"
"On hold", interesting term. Kind of goes with pressing the "pause" button, or "slo-mo replay," or checking "caller i.d." These terms have become realities in our society, and even more, have become second nature. And as such, they become automatic and unconscious. And so, if we can stop and pause and replay, do these actions that have become a habit and expectation become the norm? Does this mean we believe we have such control over our actions that we lose our ability to react?
And who cares? Is this of any concern to anyone, or is it simply the pissed off ramblings of someone who accidentally dropped her cellphone in the toilet yesterday?
Last night as the B train crossed the Manhattan Bridge, I looked out at the East River---to the East at the starkness of the clouds and dark blue of the sky behind the Queensborough and Triborough Bridges and ports along the Brooklyn shore, and to the West the sunset's colors just beginning to show behind the Brooklyn Bridge and Statue of Liberty. I looked around the car: people clearly from all over, very NYC and part of the wonder of this crossroads of the world. Corny, but so evident and I felt priveleged to be here. And then the guy to my left started screaming obscenitites. I was ready to move to the other end of the car, then I saw he was on a phone that only has service for a few minutes until we disappear again in the tunnel beneath Chinatown. A rap song suddenly to my left--someone else has a call to answer. I look around. Over half of the people are attached to one device or another. I wonder what would happen if an emergency happened and the conductor or engineer had a message helpful to us to save ourselves? Only theory I guess, not a practical concern because the speaker system would probably be impossible to understand even with two available ears. And I wonder what would happen if one of the passengers needed help and screamed? Would anyone hear? Well, perhaps if we made lots of frantic motions. But what if it was a heart attack and the passenger merely passed out silently? Would anyone notice? And if anyone did notice, would they finish listening to their song, or their phone conversation, before acting thereby putting the emergency "on hold?"
"On hold", interesting term. Kind of goes with pressing the "pause" button, or "slo-mo replay," or checking "caller i.d." These terms have become realities in our society, and even more, have become second nature. And as such, they become automatic and unconscious. And so, if we can stop and pause and replay, do these actions that have become a habit and expectation become the norm? Does this mean we believe we have such control over our actions that we lose our ability to react?
And who cares? Is this of any concern to anyone, or is it simply the pissed off ramblings of someone who accidentally dropped her cellphone in the toilet yesterday?
posted by AYankee @ 8:37 AM
1 Comments:
At 3:45 PM,
emperor of dirt said…
Then there is the related phenomenon of calling ahead to say that one is going to be late.
Hi, just wanted to let you know that I'm on my way.
Never mind that the person you're meeting made it his/her business to arrive at the agreed upon time. Never mind that they have to stand around like a moron now and wait on your inconsiderate ass. You're in the clear, right, because you called. Isn't that convenient (for you)?
People really seem to think that calling on the (flaky) fly like this, gets them off the hook, but I've got news for them. You're still late. In the past, we would have just known that you were late. Now we know why. But you're still late.
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