Society’s memory has moved from paper, a durable medium, to the web medium. People have email, a smart home, a smart phone and an apple watch. When they have a question, they look it up. When they can’t think of the name of a song, they don’t search their memory, they ask alexa. When they are lonely, they check facebook or text a friend. When they take a walk, they are being told by their calendar that they had better hurry, they are told by an app that they are walking too slow and they get a text that gets them thinking about tomorrow. When they are waiting in line, idling at a stop light, or waiting for a friend, they read texts or the news or a book on their small screen.
I worry that social media like facebook, twitter, etc., are increasing social anxiety and are as destructive as they are potentially beneficial in their facilitation of communications. And we all never seem to get a break. They wake up in the morning and cringe at how many emails they already have waiting for them to attend to, and the need to keep up takes away from their time in more concentrated and potentially productive endeavors. Honestly, they all miss discussing questions and figuring things out with a friend. Walking in the nature and listening to the birds. Stopping and enjoying the pause, the white space in-between, the wide-open space where the world lives. People do not have strong in-person communication skills. The opportunities for distraction afforded by our heavily digitally-mediated lifestyle makes it harder for us to do the things we want to do. We are losing the connection with our roots in a very fast pace. In other words, We are becoming so adultrated in the modern technological world.
– Manimozhi Ilango
My Fatty Brain Cell 