Here, there, and everywhere

The headline to the blog post says it all: "Has our addiction to technology hindered our ability to enjoy life?" The question is posed regarding the iPhone and its usefulness versus intrusiveness in nature, although I imagine it could go for any portable device that allows the electronic umbilical cord to the internet to remain unbroken no matter where we are.

Not to hedge, but I'd answer with a qualified, "It can if we choose to let it." I don't have an iPhone or Blackberry or anything that puts the mobile web in my hand whenever I please, so even though I'll freely admit to being online a great deal, I don't feel lashed to it. Maybe I would behave differently if I had a smart phone or received calls or texts more frequently than I do, but I doubt it. I don't feel like I have to be preoccupied every blessed second.

I see how people--OK, students--tether themselves to the technology so that they're focused on the phone when (ahem) they should be paying attention in class or are trying to have an in-person conversation. (Funny how texts and calls take priority over the person in their presence.) I see adults who are just as bad at movies, sporting events, and concerts. In those cases they pay money for these diversions yet can't break the tether for a couple hours.

I wonder if this is driven more and more by a need for instant gratification or if it's a way of surrounding ourselves with white noise so as not to be alone with our own thoughts. If something always needs our attention, then there's no time for reflection or immersion in whatever is at hand.

I've found myself feeling less of a need to take photographs or use my camera to record (badly) at concerts because it interferes with my ability to be in and enjoy the moment. Otherwise I'm seeing the performance through a screen or a viewfinder, which turns it into a third person experience in which focus is placed on framing the shot and trying to hold the camera still enough.

Certainly I'm not against technology that permits the instant ability to communicate, find information, and document. The ways we can be connected today are unprecedented and largely for the better. I just wish that people would take a little more time to root their minds where their bodies are and not in the electronic cloud.