This morning I was talking to a coworker about Barcelona. He started humming a song and I asked what it was. He got his iPod out of his pocket and started playing "Barcelona Nights" by Ottmar Liebert (I had never heard of him before today). Apparently he's half Hungarian (who isn't, seriously??) and then German and Chinese, pretty interesting mix I have to say. He plays jazzy Spanish style guitar, it's really beautiful.
After listening to Barcelona Nights, I was looking up more songs and info about him and came across his website, which also features a blog, his diary. I just skimmed through the first few entries and already, I saw several things that caught my attention.
I have been thinking about the issue of being addicted to technology, communication and the internet way too much and trying to think of some way to deal with it, at least on a personal level. I think it's a huge problem on the level of society, especially concerning the younger generations that are growing up with internet from infancy. At least I know what it was like not to have email and instant messaging and cell phones for the first 18 or so years of my life. We actually had to meet people in person and call each others' houses to talk and send letters in the mail, all of which have become a lot more scarce. It's so much easier to send an email or text message than call or face someone in person, especially if I want to avoid the face-to-face conversation. It's crazy! When did we lose the ability to have a real conversation in person?
I have had this fantasy for some time now: I wish that just for a few days, the internet would collapse and cell phone signals would die. I know that it'd be devastating on a national level; but in my fantasy, people would go knock on each others' doors and spend hours and hours talking over drinks without being interrupted by phone calls, text messages and emails and I think we would actually find out so much about ourselves and others.
I recommend this interview with Maggie Jackson, who wrote a book called Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age: it's something to think about. Also, if you read the article, scroll down and look through some of the comments, they are very enlightening, proving that this is a real phenomenon she is talking about. But this much, you probably all know if you are even reading this now. :) I can't deny that I am a junkie but it's a strange thing to be addicted to. After all, all this new technology has revolutionized science, communication and so many other things that are unbelievably useful and we can learn so much through them. But like with everything, we have to find a healthy balance and try not to overdo any one thing, otherwise, it becomes counterproductive and unhealthy.
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