Tragedy of Technology- Mourning A Loss of Life

Many years ago I read an amazing book that changed my life and the way I see the world forever. My husband says after I finished it, I closed it, got up and threw our television out the door. A lot of time has passed since then and the television has wormed its way back in...and multiplied. It now has many wires and growths in the form of Gamecubes, Playstations and DVD players. When Tallulah and Clyde were small, they knew how to entertain themselves and read for hours at a time, drawing, writing and acting. This winter when the electricity went out for a few hours due to a beautiful ice storm, Gaston and I realized we have a problem. This became clear as we watched one of our younger children have an emotional breakdown and melt into the floor proclaiming his death was forthcoming in the absence of electrical power. I swear I heard the words, 'If only I had a laptop!". I asked Gaston who this child was and where were his real parents because there is no way this could be MY child...could it? This same child's happiness level for the entire day can depend upon whatever "item" he wins on the virtual pet website...not a REAL item, but a PICTURE on a screen. Our children have a new society of friends which revolves around virtual reality, nothing tangible or real or breathing. This is disturbing. "Some things have to change around here" would be the understatement of the century. For inspiration, this requires that I once again read Fahrenheit 451.
If you read it in high school or in college as an assignment, you were most likely told it was a classic book on censorship.That would be completely incorrect. It is about the opposite of censorship. It is about a society so entertained by interactive television on The Walls and The White Clown and The Relatives, by constant music playing in the seashells in their ears, all serenity and peace obtained by mind altering drugs, racing about at high speeds, bombarded by advertisements and media to the point of being so far removed from Nature that all love of learning and reading is gone. He talks about knowledge being predigested into bite-sized pieces to accommodate our "knowledge for dummies" mentality. Doesn't sound like such an ingenious book, does it? He is simply describing MP3 players and big screen television, reality TV and interactive gaming systems. One simple fact makes it amazing....he wrote it over 50 years ago, before those things existed, before our world existed. It is a profoundly disturbing prophetic book. If you haven't read it recently, pick it up.
You will meet Clarisse. You can recognize which house is her family's because of the absence of the TV antennae. Or satellite dish? In the evenings, you will see their home brightly lit up, no blue flickering of screens. You will hear laughter and discussions taking place. On rainy days you will see Clarisse outside with her face turned skyward. You will see her drink up all of life and hopefully be inspired by her sense of wonder. If you read no other book this year, please read this one. Instead of reading my blog, read a chapter of Fahrenheit, Walden or The Education of Little Tree. Our family used to be like Clarisse. I think Tallulah is still very much like her. My childhood time I spent with my Daddy was never in front of a television. It was out and about in Nature and with animals. I want that life back. The tragic part is you can get pretty lonely, due to the casualties of technology...
We had an old friend we all loved (and still do). But things used to be SO interesting, rich and colorful before technology took over their life. My dear friend would write me handwritten letters, stay long into the night eating good food, discussing books, art, gardening. At the end of every visit, my children had learned something new or had been given drawing lessons or taken on Nature walks learning all the names of local trees and plants. Those days are gone. Now our dear friend only talks, lives and breathes computers. No more time for lessons. All the beauty and magic is gone. No more sharing the knowledge or happy memories. Another technology casualty.
I have lost many fine opportunities to spend precious time with friends who instead choose to either play with their techno toys or discuss them. Why is there no etiquette for cell phone use? Why is it not illegal to drive while using one...failure to pay full time and attention. I hate them. And I don't care if that offends you. Your cell phone offends me. People who normally have perfectly fine manners suddenly become rude if their cell phone rings in the middle of a conversation with me. No, "excuse me" or "sorry, mind if I take this?" or even more appropriately turn the damn thing off. I see so many parents missing a lunch with their children by spending the entire time on their phone talking to someone more important. Why are kids running around with the things? I just recently was enlightened to the fact that many people TEXT WHILE DRIVING. What the hell? This makes me never want to be on the road again. I read an article recently about a college professor who assigned his students to not use their cell phones or computers for 24 hours & write about their experience. Some described it as the longest day of their lives while some enjoyed experiencing other things. A 24 hour experiment? I thought it was a misprint, 24 whole hours of survival. I am bewildered by people who complain about their financial struggles while every child in their family is packing a cell phone and has their own computer. It is treated as if it is a bare necessity, an essential part of life, not the extravagance that it is. A chicken in every pot is now a laptop for every child. While with a group of kids the other day, i watched three preteen girls sit in a line beside each other, not talking...texting to OTHER people. Does no one else see the absurdity and the effects of all this on the children? Fahrenheit is coming true and the kids are the victims. At home we all sit at a different screen in separate rooms. I see coffee shops filled with people communicating...but not with each other, with the screen in front of them or the phone in their hand. This miraculous tool of communication alienates me from my husband. We LOVE our technology. If you don't believe this, try insulting someone's spouse and computer or cell phone in the same sentence and see which they defend first and most fiercely :). There are times I would enjoy the convenience and sense of safety a cell phone brings but as I cannot reasonably afford one, I will have to take my chances and join the millions of people who lived before me and somehow survived for thousands of years without. I understand all the pros and advantages of the technology we have available and am not suggesting that we throw it all out. Not that I think there is any danger of that. I am saying it is incredibly addictive and we have given it the wrong place in our lives. It is no longer a tool but a companion. These time saving devices are sure taking up a lot of hours. No wonder people are depressed. The only Nature most people experience is their cool screensaver or The Discovery Channel. We are allowing it to replace our lives, sucking them up, making us into bumbling idiots if we can't find an electrical outlet or a wireless signal. A few years ago a friend of mine called to tell me about an exchange she had just witnessed, knowing I would love it. The women were discussing storing up canned food for an upcoming hurricane threat and power outages. One of the ladies knowingly huffed in disbelief and stated "I don't know why they are all bothering to stock up on canned goods, if the electricity goes out they aren't going to be able to open them!" Oh dear.
Why would I want to hear about gigabytes, hard drives, memory capability or how many bars you get on your cell phone? I don't want to talk about the "White Clown" or "The Relatives" on the latest reality show...because they aren't real. Let's discuss music instead of your MP3 Seashells. Let's take a walk by the river instead of checking the forecast on the laptop. I miss Life. The technology has stolen it. I needed to be reminded once again the dangers of blindly partaking of all the technology this world has to offer. It is good to remember I want my children to learn to play and learn without a screen. I want furry, messy, real pets, not virtual ones. I think I should slow down and be more cautious about what we embrace as living. This house needs fewer controllers and remotes and keyboards and many more books opened, canvases painted, instruments played and walks taken. Every hour I spend mesmerized in front of this thing are hours away from my children that I can never get back. Enough.