Over winter break I took a short trip to Haiti. The trip was very impacting, very somber, very productive, but one of the most memorable moments came upon my return...
While in Haiti, I was blessed to be without phone, computer, television, or anything having a screen. I found myself not wanting to look at any screen when I returned.
We are so entirely surrounded by technology and media that the simpleness of life is lost. In Haiti there was no problem with living in the moment, because the moment, location, people, etc. was all I had. The internet and satellites perpetually connect us in a sometimes subversively invasive way. We don't even realize how we are constantly living in adultery (as opposed to fidelity) to the present moment.
The danger of technology.
-Nate Bozarth
Did you see the interview with Sherry Turkle? ("Alone Together" on diigo)
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in your word choice of "adultery" to indicate infidelity. I take it that there is an implication that we're "cheating" on the present moment- that there is a another party involved. What did you mean by this?
I make sense of this by thinking that being with a person who uses technology to access a person who is not present is "socially cheating" on you at that instant.
Or maybe another interpretation is that we cheat on time itself when use technology to dwell wantonly in the past or become hyper-engaged in planning our futures, neglecting the present moment in both cases.
how heideggerian of you... i don't know if it makes sense to talk about 'technology' in an broad sense. if you're specifically referring to social media [a la texting, twitter, fb, & ect] i think i am able to see what you're getting at. it can be harder to form deep interpersonal relationships if you're constantly deferring connection. still- each of the social mediums have been used for other purposes; some people create deep connections through screens, some are used for political purposes and organizing, so even then, it might be better to have a more nuanced understanding of social media.
ReplyDeletei like breaks from my laptop and phone- and i do think it's important to remember there are other ways of interacting with people. but i am curious as to what you mean by fidelity to the present and what that consists of. i don't think i know.
The term "adultery" seems to indicate that I have some sort of fidelity to the present. As both a historian and a futurian, I doubt that I've ever offered any promises to live in the present moment, nor do I particularly want to.
ReplyDeleteI am also not sure how the internet is subversively invasive any more than, say living in a small town where everyone knows everything. Being connected constantly is part of human society. Someday, disconnecting from the network might be as foreign to us as the idea of being a hermit.
Honestly, I've never heard it articulated in a more clear and accurate way. I think the more you put value on a person's soul, the more "being mediated" seems to deminish the appreciation of technology.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I would have to disagree about it being similar to living in a small town. Invasive maybe, but being part of a community of human bodies makes you think a little more about your actions.. having to face those people and live with the way things turn out. Technology provides a way to hide from them, or tell the entire world, who aren't physically there, what you want to be about. Right. What you WANT to be about. Not necessarily what you are about. Why would people prefer text messaging? Why are people scared to call people? Because even that involves vulnerability of inflection.
Don't get me wrong, the simplicity of life with technology is great. We can learn a lot, and I can stay connected with my friends with Indonesians. But as soon as I catch myself in my room on facebook, instead of the living room with my neighbors, its hard to see where we draw the line of authentic relationships.
I completely get where you're coming from! Spending the summer in South Africa and having *very* limited access to any kind of screen was extremely liberating. I always thought I was the kind of person who HAD to be constantly active because that's just who I was... turns out it was more that I was just too distracted and had NO idea how to live in the now. I Love your description of being adulterous with the present. That's honestly what it is- you're cheating yourself out of the now! Be it not paying enough attention to the people around you, or yourself, or making deep connections. Yes, I understand that technology can be used to help you understand your friends, yourself, the world, etc. better and it helps keep you in touch with people around the world... but the fact is- being that connected all the time is exhausting! I think technology has led us into believing that letting go, or accepting the now isn't the proper way to live... and I think its just the opposite. Everything has it's place in time, but with technology that linear time line is broken. "We don't even realize how we are constantly living in adultery (as opposed to fidelity) to the present moment."- Pure love :)
ReplyDeleteI think the reason we love our screens and our constant connectedness so much is that we have such ample opportunity to be distracted, especially from what's not quite right in our lives. It's easy to put your best features out for all to see on the web, or choose how to react before sending a text. Technology enables us to hide our true selves, our selfishness, our wounds; whereas living in fidelity to the present moment forces us to recognize and deal with the ugliness within us.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that it's refreshing to get away from our screens! How is it that we're so quickly drawn in to spending large amounts of time with them? The things we do in this present moment determine the next moment, the next week, the next year. I don't want to miss any of the moments I have-- I'm not getting any of them back! It's now or never to use our time for good or to fritter it away in the name of being high-tech.