Here in
Maine we have had torrential rain for the last two days. Yesterday I drove into town and on the way I
saw a young woman walking in the downpour, holding an umbrella while focusing
on her cell phone held a foot from her face.
I could not help but wonder what
world her mind was in.
In 1970
Alvin Toffler’s book Future Shock
pose the proposition that man could not adapt to rapid change; that like
evolution, social and environmental changes must occur slowly in order for
humans to adapt. This is now easily disproved.
The most
massive changes in human history has occurred over the last forty years and man
not only adapted, but led the demand.
During the
1980’s basic personal computers became available. These computers were able to run simple word
processing programs and games. Since that time, we have the internet, a truly
world wide web, extremely powerful personal computers, cell phones, social
media, GPS and now driverless cars.
Changes have come so fast that often a product is outmoded before it’s
released. People will wait in lines all
night to buy the newest iPhone.
This
technology has brought about a rapid cultural change. People have become less personally
interactive as they live vicarious lives on social media. A recent study claimed that people between
the age of 16 and 35 will interact with their cell phones an average of 150
times a day: e-mails, social media, blogs, text messages, phone calls, games,
photos, special aps – the cell phone now tends to regulate our life.
This
constant obsession of being plugged into technology has got to be rewiring our
brain and, perhaps in a dystopian fashion, leaving us vulnerable to programming
by those that would control us.
the Ol'Buzzard
