There we were standing on the shores of Lake Chautauqua
watching the sun sink below the horizon. People were fishing, others were
taking in the beautiful evening, a few kids clamoured about the base of a small
lighthouse.
A couple walked up and the woman stepped near me, held up
her phone and snapped a picture of the glorious sky.
'Got it!" she proclaims half turning her head to her
husband.
And then she walks away.
What a snapshot (no pun intended) of our present cultural milieu.
People are so busy grabbing a picture or video, they're so
busy looking at the screen that they're missing life altogether.
We're noticing it all the time. People can't sit still,
relax and contemplate. They sure can't engage in conversation. The ability to
concentrate is just gone. It's go, go, go.
The technology is killing them. These people are in bondage
but they don't even see it. They think you're missing out on life if you don't
have a smart phone. I think the opposite is true.
It is possible of course to have a smart phone and use it
wisely but I don't see a lot of people who are capable of doing that. I'm
probably not and thus I don't have one. I couldn't afford it even if I wanted
it. That too is surprising to me as I see whole families walking about with
these devices. It's quite an investment.
I noticed an older couple walking along the little boardwalk
holding hands. How nice I thought to see another couple (like us) out enjoying
the evening. I thought there you see an older couple not caught up in all the
traps of techno-modernity, people who still know something about basic living.
But then they stopped pulled their phones out and stood
there for a long time just fiddling with them oblivious to the nature and
tranquility which surrounded them.
I spent two continuous years in Europe, visited Britain on
some other occasions and have certainly taken many other trips as well. I have
many photo albums to prove it and today I have many folders full of digital
pictures as well.
But I always was restrained with the camera. Of course
before the digital age we were restrained because of the costs of film and
getting everything developed. But now I'm still somewhat reluctant with the
camera.
Why? Because I want to enjoy the memory. I don't want to sit
and stare at a screen or be glued to an eyepiece.
Today I enjoy many of my pictures from the out of the way
places. I think of the view from atop a certain mountain in Italy or often I
would grab a shot of a little restaurant or something. They're memory triggers.
When I would visit Florence or Milan I would take pictures
but I wouldn't obsess about it. Those places have been professionally
photographed and it's probably just easier to get a guidebook.
Maybe I'm weird but I just never wanted thousands of
pictures of every last little thing. It gets too overwhelming for me and I miss
what's going on.
We have some videos of our kids but not very many. Sometimes
we're saddened by that but in other respects we're not. I'm not sorry that I
didn't spend much of their childhood staring at a screen and teaching my
children to be narcissistic show-offs and posers.
I guess we can enjoy the technology but I look at many
people and I just want to shake them and say... "What are you doing?"
Turn that dumb thing off and live your life. The picture of
the sunset is never as good as the real thing. I have many pictures of mountain
ranges but none of them do justice to the real thing.
Why do people settle for cheap imitations? That in itself is
a commentary on our culture.
Later that evening we were watching fireworks and I couldn't
believe how many people were sitting there filming them and I also noticed how
many people were restless and couldn't sit still to watch a fifteen minute
show.
Wow, where will it all go?
The technology had brought about the Information Age... but
then why does it seem like we're entering a new Dark Age of broken
dysfunctional society and people who possess the ignorance of medieval peasants?
