So in today's world, we seem to be running, walking even, in a million different directions at about a hundred miles a minute. Why is that?
When we're slated to die eventually, why make it come any faster, any closer than it really needs to be?
Technology.
Seriously - think about it! Without computers, smart phones, e-readers, email, social media, whatever else that involves humans staring blankly at screens for hours on end with no real true interaction, what's left? We've completely lost our ability to have conversations (I'm not talking about 'text message' conversations people) but live, human-to-human, person-to-person conversations. The valuable kind where you can actually see their live reaction, hear the emotions in their voice, smell the sweat when you're getting into a really heated debate, feel the tension in the room building...
It's magnetic, and yet we're denying ourselves the luxury of interacting as humans are naturally and genetically programmed to do.
I once read a book for a communication course in college about the evolution of gossip. It was actually a fascinating read - it argued that since the dawn of human existence, humans have a natural need for cultivating relationships. The human ancestor, the chimpanzee, had some of the first instances of gossip and interaction as we know it today. I know it might seem crazy, but for real people - chimps, females mostly, would get in a line and groom one another and gossip (yes I said gossip!!) to each other during this process. So in theory, cleanliness for survival was part of the social experience, and vice-versa one could argue.
So what are we to take away from this?
I for one am just as much a victim of technology as the next person - I mean I'm writing this blog post on a computer for crying out loud. (It happens when I can't sleep, can you blame me?) But I like to think that I keep a decent balance of being technologically savvy and being a normal, conversing human being with thoughts, emotions, opinions, fears, hopes, dreams, the whole shebang.
One thing I really hate is when I see people on public transit, reading their e-readers and texting and scrolling on their phones, never once having just a normal, natural human conversation. I'm not saying you need to strike up a conversation with every person you see on your way home from work on the subway. Trust me, I did it for years and love my peace and quiet just as much as you probably do. Especially after long, hard hours at the office. All I'm asking is that you look up - on occasion, just glance at the person next to you, see if you can find a window of opportunity to smile, or just laugh or offer them your two cents if you happen to stumble into someone else's conversation. It won't hurt you, and it certainly won't be artificial like that phone you're holding. It won't have a conversation with you naturally (you could say Siri might, but she's still robotic and I still find her creepy)...
So get off your phones people! Look around you! You're not going to learn the value of life and love, health and happiness, without some conversations - the live ones.
One more quick story (too late I know!) - I was in CVS today waiting for a prescription, and of course 'fifteen minutes' turns into about a half hour. Whatever, not like I was dying to get somewhere else, but no one seriously likes to wait for something they don't have to. One of those other natural human things - a desire to get something now, and be done with it.
My point is this - I was sitting patiently and a guy comes up with his niece, an older Italian guy with some years on him, and started telling me jokes. He not only made me laugh, he had me talking to him for a while during our wait. He smiled and laughed back, sharing experiences, talking about his cruises, telling me how he quit smoking after years of it and that was the best decision he ever made. Real good solid HUMAN things.
Everyone needs to realize that people are naturally curious and social creatures - you, me, the gal on the subway, the guy at the pharmacy - and we're all in this world together to create and live and converse and later die (sorry for that bit of morbidity in the line of transcendalism, my bad). But we're all supposed to have conversations, to share experiences, to live together, to share each other's feelings and toils, to discuss serious and funny topics, to smile and laugh together at each other's jokes.
My vote is this: Humans are and always will be socially interactive, so instead of our 'social media' doing it for us, let's do the talking ourselves, shall we?
No comments:
Post a Comment