Life, the Universe and Digital Society

[pgolde]

I have been hitting this very thing head on lately.
One thing in particular that I have noticed, and conducted further "social experiments" on is the cell phone-human connection.
I have been using craigslist quite a bit here in Phoenix, an excellent method of avoiding giving my hard earned petro-dollars to the global corporate economy. In my quest to keep the economy local I have run into a large amount of resistance in attempting to communicate to the cell phone connected. So far, it seems only to be a problem with the younger peoples, older folks closer to my age (born in the 60s) dont seem to have this issue. The issue being, I do not own a cell phone. I never wanted one but was forced to get one because of my work. I dove into the smart phone culture and was guilty of endangering myself and the lives of others by texting and facebooking while driving in rush hour traffic. For me, this got old quick, as did paying the outrageous bills to own such a tracking device. I rid myself of all of it and couldn't be happier for it, especially now when I read about all the "health benefits" you get, like cancer and mind control. So, I do not have a phone and do not have, nor do I want, the ability to text. This seems to piss people off to no end. The first reaction I get is a sideways look and a question like "What the hell is wrong with you!?" When I tell people via email that I do not have a cell phone or the ability to text, they usually end the communication right there. They will also email me asking to text them, when I reply "I have no cell phone", they get irritated, sometimes ending the communication, sometimes they will just say "call me". I do not understand why email is so different than text and why they would refuse to use it. I have get some angry replys like being called a "piece of shit". When I get more than a two word reply, I will respond, and it is usually a very nice person over the age of 30.

[Aaron]

Indeed, and I would certainly agree. One the reasons for this is most likely exactly what daniel describes and the devolving of language in the younger digital generations. As such, they no longer can even be bothered with email as this is seen as an inconvenience because it takes an extra 2 seconds to compose or reply to vs. the quick and instant gratification of a text message.

Not only is language devolving, but so is attention span and the ability to even focus or think for longer than a few seconds. All these digital annoyances and apps aimed and designed and completely replacing organic reality with a synthetic overlay of experience.

Its shocking today when you go to a restaurant and see 4 people sitting at a table and not a one talking to each other, but rather all 4 heads down typing into their phones.

[daniel]

Have you also noticed that cell phones have priority over living people? If you're having a face-to-face conversation with someone and that phone beeps, they immediately grab it and put YOU on hold... I think the world would end if they didn't read their text message within 150 microseconds of it arriving... I find it rather insulting. But it is part of Gen-Y "Millennials," which I prefer to call by the more technical term, the "ME-NOW!!!" generation.

I've never sent a "text" in my life. I have a cheapo cell phone I got at Pamida for $19 (pay-by-the-minute) for emergencies, as I'm often out in the wilderness by myself. So it's usually sitting OFF in my backpack. And I find the same difficulties--people just assume you've got an iPhone and spend your day texting and surfing, rather than working. They are quite shocked to find out when you DON'T. I've noticed the "incomprehensible" responses as well.

[Aaron]

Yeap thats exactly right daniel. In fact, these smartphones today are completely addictive like crack cocaine or all the crap they put into food.

Try to get a digital junkie to turn the phone off for more than a few minutes and the withdrawal systems kick in almost immediately!!! Its as if they cannot imagine or experience life without it. Its almost like breathing!

[deepfsh]

these smartphones today are completely addictive like crack cocaine or all the crap they put into food

Is Google causing people to suffer from 'digital amnesia'?

The reliance on Google and other search engines to recall information is leading people to suffer from 'Digital Amnesia' as people now depend on the internet and smartphones to store important information.

Of those surveyed globally, more than 51 per cent of American and 40 per cent of European respondents (especially women and younger people) claim that for them the loss or compromise of data stored on digital devices, and smartphones in particular, would cause immense distress.

[joeyv23]

I've had this exchange more than once:

SWIM: "WHY don't you have a cell phone?!" or "You NEED to get a cell phone!"
Me: "Why?"
SWIM: "Well what if someone needs to contact you?"
Me: "I use facebook for that."
SWIM: "What if it's an emergency?"
Me: "We have a home phone."
SWIM: "What if they don't know the number?"
Me: "Then why are they trying to contact me in case of an emergency?"
SWIM: Dumb/blank expression "You're hopeless."
Me: *shrugs*

This was one of the first disconnects I noticed in regards to myself and my generation of peers. I've had a cell phone, but since the last device I had got cut off about 3 years ago, I don't have one, and for that reason, I'm not as important to some, while those that are able to instantly communicate are assigned a 1 rather than a 0. Not to send this thread into a different direction, there's already plenty of discussion about this at AQ, but now that I've gone straight edge, I'm noticing the same trend with people that I would share that aspect of my life with. I'm "boring" now. I do have a couple of friends who are impressed that I can spend hours reading something that isn't required of me, or that I quit this or that. These few might look at me enviously because I don't use a cell phone and therefore there's less stress in my life, or they smile and are proud for me doing things that are healthier than I have in the past, but even then.. they mosey away to go hang out with someone else because I'm not entertained in the same way or by the same things that they are.

Not only is language devolving, but so is attention span and the ability to even focus or think for longer than a few seconds. All these digital annoyances and apps aimed and designed and completely replacing organic reality with a synthetic overlay of experience.

The first sentence in this statement is the real annoyance, and I've been guilty of it too. Retraining myself how to focus has been no easy task. We've delegated thinking to machines on the grounds that thought is mechanistic and therefore the machines that are built for such a task are better suited for it. (Thank you Gopi for helping me understand this.) What we are skipping over is the fact that we should be able to do the work for ourselves, BEFORE we use a tool to help us perform a task. It's this that probably explains why older generations who saw/experienced the evolution of computers for personal use aren't so bound to them. They/you guys already had the know how to obtain information. It took time and effort, mental as well as physical. I wasn't allowed to have a calculator in math class until about 7th grade when we started learning pre-algebra. We all know how well that's held up over the years, and my generation made it worse (If you haven't seen it, Season 21, Episode 2 of The Simpsons nails this one to the ground.) The more subtle delegation of will to technology is becoming more noticeable to me recently. I decided to spend my "Independence Day" watching old sci-fi movies. I remembered watching TRON as a kid but couldn't really remember the details so that was first on the list to watch. This popped out at me.

DILLINGER:
Walter, I sympathize, but I have data
coming out of the Master Control Program
saying there is something screwy --

GIBBS:
That MCP, you know, that's half the
problem right --

DILLINGER:
The MCP is the most efficient way of
handling what we do. I can't sit and
worry about every little user request that --

GIBBS:
User requests are what computers are for.

DILLINGER:
Doing our business is what computers are
for. Look, Walter, with all respect -- ENCOM
isn't the business you started in your garage
anymore --

Try to get a digital junkie to turn the phone off for more than a few minutes and the withdrawal systems kick in almost immediately!!! Its as if they cannot imagine or experience life without it. Its almost like breathing!

This is one of the saddest / most amusing things I've ever seen. Countless times I've seen friends put everything, and I mean EVERYTHING on hold because their battery was about to die. And En-lil forbid they don't have a charger with them.

SWIM: "You have a charger?"
Me: "No"
SWIM: "Shit.. well.. let me get to the house so I can charge this up"
END OF LINE

[joeyv23]

I saw this shortly after posting. George Takai posted this back in November of last year. The caption is 50% correct. The person that took the picture was watching too.

To phone or not to phone.jpg (64.36KiB)Viewed 40485 times

[Aaron]

That photo post is so true Joey. Everywhere in society is exactly like this today.

I challenge anyone to simply look around the next time your at the grocery store, the mall, and especially places like restaurants, coffee shops etc... and observe what EVERYONE is doing. (Looks almost exactly like the photo Joey posted above...)

[Recursive]

Every time I see this out in public it makes me think of monks with heads bowed in prayer.

[MrGreen]

Yeah, but don't the "mind control" and negative health effects extend far beyond to having it attached at the hip, as long as you're in range of any general cell phone reception area and/or other saturated wireless devices it's basically the same thing. The entire power grid generates EMF's. Despite completely agreeing that they are harmful, along with science proving long term low-level exposures cause DNA mutations along with drastically lowering sperm counts, I still think this thread is being a little dramatic.

I don't feel insulted if it's an important call or even if someone is multi-tasking during conversation and types a text in between, as long it's not the only thing they're focused on. It can be quite a useful tool for obtaining information, taking pictures, and assisting in a variety of different tasks. The key as always, is balance and moderation. On top of that, I believe we should do everything we can to make our own living space a safe haven by avoiding wireless devices and connecting to the internet through a wired home network, utilizing grounding etc... giving our bodies a chance to recover and heal from the accumulation effect. There's no escaping it completely, but there are ways to minimize the damage and use it productively without becoming reliant.