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Which
would you rather receive from your lover: a hand-written
letter or an email?
This question was posed during a recent talk radio
broadcast here in Sweden. The topic of the day was
technology, the question: How important is it to
be technically proficient and kept abreast of the
latest industry developments?
Despite
my still shaky command of the Swedish language I'd
been following the program for the last half-hour,
attempting to become more in-tune with the country's
cultural psyche. In other words, I wasn't feeling
masochistic enough to subject myself to yet another
hour of Britney Spears driving me crazy, let alone
those obnoxious ABBA Teens.
The discussion focused primarily on computer literacy
and the Internet. The opinions offered were, as
I suspected, very similar to that expressed back
home in my native Canada -- overwhelmingly pro-technology.
No surprises here considering Sweden is second only
to Finland (on a per capita basis) for cell phone
usage, and recent statistics report 48 per cent
of all Swedes between the ages of 13-55 are on-line.
Like a merry band of PR practitioners, callers rang
in trumpeting the merits of technology, touting
the benefits of a lifestyle lived in submission
to the microchip. Correctly noting the paradigm
shift already underway, they argued for the necessity
of not only accepting, but also embracing all things
electronic if success in the new millennium is to
be achieved. Their mantra - convenience, efficiency,
and progress - filled the airwaves.
It was depressing.
Then, as one calling out in the wilderness, there
came the voice of reason, the voice… of humanity.
Which would you rather receive from your lover:
a hand-written letter or an email?
So simple, so concise, and yet a question that confronts
the very struggle for our humanness.
Our communication is becoming more and more abstract
as we increasingly reject traditional, physically
oriented channels in favour of greater reliance
on electronic means. As this pattern develops, we
will continue to adapt to meet the needs of these
new channels. Like a muscle left unused, those aspects
of our being associated with physical interaction
will atrophy, our senses will dull, as we seek refuge
in the electronic realm.
The
result is frightening in its irony.
In the process of creating machines to be more human
we are becoming less so. By attempting to create
a virtual reality, we are compromising and depreciating
actual reality -- the physical realm.
Do you remember George Orwell’s 1984? His “negative
utopia” depicts a world of soul-less automatons
under the control of The Party; a society of sub-humans
living in a world devoid of individuality, beauty
and creativity. What defers from Orwell’s depressing
prognosis and present reality is that unlike those
poor wretches, we are not being forced by Big Brother
to hand over our person-hood. Indeed, we freely
choose to dehumanise ourselves, trading our humanity
for a hard drive.
We are so enamoured with technology, imbibing in
the pleasures of an extended honeymoon with our
technological bride, that we are unable to critically
examine the situation. With each breakthrough and
every new product introduced to market our collective
body writhes to the rhythms set by the industry
as we bask in a sea of euphoria, utterly unaware
of our surroundings.
This lack of environmental consciousness will be
our downfall.
Make no mistake, I am no luddite. If the choice
is between electronic communication or none at all,
rest assured I'll grab the nearest cell phone, email
or video terminal I can get my hands on. Technology
in-and-of-itself is not Satan incarnate. Indeed,
even those technological advances that exhibit disproportionate
number of cons vs. pros are stripped of their venom
once that one is both aware of the cons and able
to counteract them. The trouble is, too many of
us are too often choosing electronic channels in
lieu of actual physical contact with our fellow
human beings. We eagerly exchange intimacies with
strangers over the Internet but avoid contact with
our neighbours.
Since changing continents I have come to rely more
heavily on electronic means of communication and
am thankful for them. I am thankful for the wedding
photo my sister sent over the Internet because I
was unable to attend. I am thankful for the web
site that allows me to track the growth of my friend’s
new baby boy. However, no matter how high the graphic
resolution, no matter how fast the modem spins,
it will never replace the real thing -- the physical
reality of being there. No matter how many emails
my parents send, I’ll always save my enthusiasm
for the letters with a postmark, all the while waiting
in anticipation for our next visit.
Which would you rather receive from your lover:
a hand-written letter or an email?
At present I'd bet my meagre paycheque on most people
choosing a letter written in their lover's handwriting,
however illegible it may be, over electronic bits
and bytes. The physical sensation of running one's
fingers over the stationary and breathing deeply
the scent of the lover's perfume or cologne embedded
in the paper's grain.... My money's on that over
clicking on the printer icon and selecting "print
all".
Assuming we continue on our present course I don't,
however, know if I'd hazard that same wager in the
foreseeable future.
Copyright
Michael Solowan 1999
Michael Solowan is a transplanted Canadian residing
in Sweden with his wife, Ulrika. He is known to
write on a freelance basis during periodic fits
of self-discipline.
Are there areas where a physical relationship cannot
compete with a virtual relationship? If so, are
we still exploring our humanness in such a relationship?
Discuss Here
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