July 19, 2010
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We’re lost without technology
A few weeks ago, a friend invited me to the Glorious Comedy at Poco comedy show. After leaving home, and riding the train for 20 minutes, I realized that I had left both of my phones (work and personal) at home. Thinking about it, I figured that I would lose too much time going back home and getting the phones, and decided to continue on my way. I only did this because I had clicked on the “map it” link on the Facebook invite. Unfortunately, the link mapped the address to an area near St. Marks place, which is an area that I was completely familiar with. The actual place was nowhere near that. So I wasn’t where I should have believed the place should be, which is definitely not where I should have been. [Read that sentence a couple of times. It was only left in to make you feel as confused as I felt. I've read it 15 times, and I can't figure out if it's right.] I also hadn’t written the address in my notebook, since I thought I knew the area I was going to.
This is where things got upsetting. A smart phone is a great device, especially when you are carrying it. Without it, I suddenly realized how dependent on it I was. I couldn’t look up the Facebook invite, because I didn’t have the phones. I couldn’t call anyone to look it up for me because all of the numbers are in the phone. Also, I didn’t feel comfortable asking someone to use their phone. Being resourceful, I knew that there was a bar that happened to have a small internet access point that I could use. I also knew that there had there are stores that revolve around people paying to get online. Sure, it cost me $3, but it was better than ending the night after only riding the train, and I had a good time at the show.
I recently read a book call “Earth Abides” which follows a character in a post apocalyptic world, in which a disease has wiped out almost all of civilization. The story takes covers a number of decades in which the main character, along with some people that he meets essentially recreate a small society. It’s a very good read if you have a chance.
I bring this up because if I hadn’t had a backup method of getting the information that I needed, there would be nothing that i could do about it. Think about it this way. Imagine that you lost access to the internet, and telephone communication. Now try to do something that requires you and a few friends. You need a phone at a minimum, unless you want a long lead time in order to get the information out. You’re definitely not going to do anything “tonight.” Unless your friends live very close to you, that is. For example, Kelly lives in the East Village. To talk to him would require me to travel for about an hour, and I would have to hope he was home, and free for the night. Otherwise, it’s a wasted trip. Also, that hour only gets him, and would need to be repeated for other people. On the other hand, Kelly and I hang out a lot one-on-one [but not one-on-one
p], so it wouldn’t be a huge difference.If you were to lose technology for a long amount of time, permanently even, your geographical representation of your circle of interaction would close in considerably. Forget people who live in other states. Jarrad in Japan? Might as well be on Jupiter. Actually, I take that back. Hanging out with people far away always takes some lead time. Michigan isn’t close. I was never able to get there quickly, or see if Mike wanted to hang out tonight. It’s my interaction with people who are geographically close, but not that close, that would suffer the most. However, I would always have The Lil Seany Show, since it’s every Saturday.
As much as i want to continue this entry about how communication technology has allowed us to spread out and yet still be connected, the real point it that I won’t be forgetting my phone in the future.
