Have you seen Microsoft’s clever ad for their new Windows-based phone? It ties in to our lively discussion from last Friday on how technology challenges our ability to be mindful.
After an hilarious parade of phone-based attention lapses culminating in a man dropping his phone in a urinal, an onlooker can only say, “Really?”
The commercial ends with the tag line, “Designed to get you in and out and back to life” And to that I have to say, “Really?”
Supply, in this case, creates its own demands. The more interesting and efficient our technology, the more interested we become in it, the more it become an extension of us.
NPR featured this theme recently with a story, And iPhone Makes Three: Marriage In The Digital Age that quotes a marriage counselor: “Fritsch is hearing more and more clients complain about a spouse whose body may be right there but whose mind is off in cyberspace. Some say the best way to get their spouse’s attention is to send a text — from the next room!”
One comment from last Friday’s entry noted:
I drove up to the house of an acquaintance one day and noticed that a friend of his, who had parked in front of this selfsame house, was leaning against his car while fingering his phone. To my query as to the impatience of his demeanor, he replied that he was text-messaging his friend to let him know of his presence and was anxious for him to come out. Curious, I asked him why he hadn’t simply walked up to the door and rung the bell, maybe fifteen feet away or so. He answered that it was too much of a bother.In the movie ‘Julie and Julia’ there’s a scene where Julie and several of her friends have just sat down at a table in a restaurant. One by one, each of her friends receives a call by way of cell, all then consciously departing into separate conversations, leaving Julie, who was eager to connect, disconnected and alone at the table.
Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/mindfulnessmatters/2010/10/freeform-friday-talking-to-yourself_comments.html#ixzz14PqF8xPg
Nobel Laureate Poet, Wislawa Szymborska notes in her poem, “Nonreading”
We live longer
but less precisely
and in shorter sentences
Our sentences have become shorter because our attention span is shorter. Soon, no thought will be permitted that is longer than 140 characters!
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