Technological Saturation

From Thu, May 15, 2008

Media, media, media. Internet, blogging, IM, texting, Myspace, Facebook, Blackberrys, pagers, iPhones, laptops, palmtops, cell phones....

Allow me to reintroduce an old-fashioned voice of concern, the one that usually resurfaces at the introduction of any innovation and is duly dismissed as over-conservative or pigheadedly stuck in the Middle Ages: Is all this technology really connecting people, or are we losing the human touch?

Now, this concern is but a tame shadow of the dystopian predictions of Huxley and Orwell. I'm not saying we're turning into slaves of machines, here. Nor am I a Luddite. But consider these situations: instead of going downstairs or even turning around to talk to your roommate, you IM her; instead of writing a letter or an email to an old friend, you simply glance over his Facebook profile or away message and leave a trite phrase on his wall; instead of full sentences, we rely on the shorthand of emoticons and texting abbreviations to communicate.

Part of this has to do with the charm of using technology. We do it because we can. Part of it is that those of my generation are physically separated from our closest friends, across state and national borders, and technology is the easiest and quickest way to connect. The issue, I think though, is that we don't connect as much as we'd like to.

Modern society is a mass society, in which individuals are part of the mass, but are isolated individuals within it, according to propaganda scholar Jacques Ellul. A mass, not a community. While I don't think it's quite so simple as to how we succumb to propaganda, there's something to be said for that feeling of isolation, and how we use our gadgets to manage it.

I would propose that this is partly why people post so much information online. We sense there's a community out there in cyberspace, one with similar tastes and passions and interests, and we want to know it, be part of it. I want my friends to know what I'm doing when I fill in that "What's your status" box. I want to tell people I enjoy fluffy towels fresh from the dryer. I put my opinions and thoughts up on a blog or a note. Because I want a response. It's an affirmation of my existence, in this isolated state.

We've seen how globalization is changing and essentially shrinking our world. But look at the tensions and conflicts and misunderstandings running rampant. More than ever, we need to connect. And we need to make sure the hands pressing the keys or maneuvering the touchscreen can still connect in a direct, human way.