A couple weeks ago I was out with a friend for dinner. To the right of us was a couple pecking away on their smartphones while they waited for their meals. To the left of us was a man working on his laptop while enjoying what looked like a niçoise salad. Noticing, my pal said with a laugh, “Maybe I should go sit at the bar and we could just text each other, sharing our meal remotely.” The scene was funny and sad at the same time. I get the allure, a world without boundaries, etc. A little weaving of global social fabric is great for the common good. But in this context I wondered, do we really want to be more connected, or just less connected to the people we’re physically with?
Today I read an article about Tiffany Shlain’s new film ‘Connected’. Not surprisingly, the film explores our increasing dependence on gadgets and blah. Shlain explains:
“These phones extend our desire for emotional connection. So these are all expanding human capacity because it’s us evolving. We continue to want to have more ways to exchange ideas and connect.”
From a professional perspective I get it. But, on a personal level, I really don’t. When’s the last time you said to a pal, “Hey remember that one time I emailed you about that amazing pot roast I made?” or “God, that text you sent me a couple months ago about Joe’s shirt was hilarious.” I can tell you, with some degree of certainty, that you never said that, and probably never will. You need to share the meal and see Joe’s shirt together to create a true connection—which I believe is most often based on shared experiences. There are always exceptions of course, but generally speaking…
Shlain might feel these devices extend our desire for emotional connection, and maybe they do, but they don’t deliver the on goods. Just like handling a peach in the store isn’t the same as ordering a peach from Amazon Fresh, being with someone face-to-face is nothing like “being” with them screen-to-screen.
Don’t get me wrong, devices are great in a way because they close certain gaps—but when there aren’t gaps, I’d argue they tend to create them. True these devices are an intermediary power, no doubt, but purveyors of the emotional connection we so deeply “desire,” I just don’t see it.
4 Comments
I can’t be more agree with that, a few weeks ago me and my friends were talking about that because just one of us had whatsapp or blackberry chat. We were joking, talking and changing experiences while having dinner and our friends was chatting by his mobile phone. People should learn when it’s the time to chat
i’ve noticed the same thing. technology that is supposed to bring us together is at the same time pushing us apart and separating us from the physical world.
now how to solve the problem.
I have been a pilot since the “days of analog” flight instruments. I studied Cartography at the UW but most importantly, I’m a very frustrated Industrial Designer. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people franticaly typing and programming in a landing runway on the Flight Management Computer when I tell them Ugh.. look out the window, the runway’s right there in front of you. The joy in my work is, very often, when I turn the automation to the o f f position.
Good to see more and more people are realizing it, then, it is people’s choice to make.