Life Unplugged

Recently I’ve noticed a trend; people walking around town with their eyes glued to their phones, iPod’s, or any portable technology availble. Most pedestrians don’t even bother to look up from their gadget as they’re crossing the street. Hello! What ever happened to the “look left, right, then left again?!”

What would happen if we all of a sudden came unplugged? Would people riot in the streets demanding their cable TV be turned back on? Or freak out if their cell phone carrier just up and disappeared one day? What would life be like pre-small gadget technology? Would we save money?

Oh, wait. I know. I’ve been there before. This is what it used to look like pre-cell phone:

• You run to the store and forget your shopping list. Instead of cell phoning your significant other to read the list over the phone, you just wing it and buy what you think you need. You may end up with superfluous items, but  it’s not the end of the world.
• Your kid is running late from school, instead of texting them, “Where the heck are you?” You call one of their friends and ask, or just worry yourself silly and yell at them when they finally arrive home.

More planning was definitely needed pre-cell phone era. But was it really all that less convenient? Not really. Was it less expensive? I’m guessing if you factored in the savings from the cost of the cell phone plan with the minor inconveniences a cell phone relieves, it’s a wash financially.

What about pre-cable TV?

• Public stations use to be available free of charge as long as you had rabbit ears.
• If nothing good was on TV, you read a book (holy cow!), finished some chores (Whoa! That would make a person productive), or found something to do outside if the weather permitted. I’m pretty sure this would lead to a healthier life-style.
• If you had a friend with cable TV and paid prime stations, you’d head over to their house and socialize.

I’m pretty sure that TV had created a culture of couch potatoes. This isn’t such a great thing. I know that most people would save a ton of money by not paying for cable each month and being more active would possibly reduce the need of gym memberships. Less TV = more pocket money.

Pre-Facebook?

• People actually called each other on the phone and heard each others’ voices.
• Make a point to get together more often to see each others’ kids grow up instead of posting photos of their kids.
• Not discuss the mundane life chores like, “Just finished 5 loads of laundry. Whew!”

I wonder what kind of social skills our future generations will have? I’m a little concerned about this trend considering I was an anthropology major in college. I’m not so sure staring at a monitor, which I’m doing right this minute, is a great way to develop and strengthen much-needed social skills. Human beings are really required. It’s a lot less expensive to share information with family and friends online versus traveling to visit them. In this case, Facebook has probably saved people money. But what about the lost experiences? Experiences are priceless.

I’m not necessarily saying that the new technology and culture that it is creating is bad, I’m just saying that it’s different and I can still remember a time when we were unplugged. I’ll be that old lady that says, “I remember when…” out of nostalgia sake.

What do you think? Are we redefining our current culture? Will there be a time when we say, “Holy cow. What have we done?” Or is it just fine and we’ll adapt to the newly created cultural “norms”?