Rant on Modern Times
I'm addicted to my smart phone. I'll be the first to admit it, and how embarrassed I am by that fact.
I remember when there were artists, and there was an audience. Now, everyone is the artist. Everyone wants their own audience, and have developed the ability to imagine that audience exists when it doesn't. We take photos of ourselves constantly. Even when someone else is nearby who could take a better photo, we'd prefer to take our own photo. It's not enough to just be in the photo, we want to shoot the photo also. Then we want people to "like" it.
I remember when there was an exciting intersection between art and commerce. An artist would create a work, and then a company would market that work to the people they hoped it would appeal to. Collections of songs were sold as albums. Scenes, written on paper, were acted out and filmed, and turned into movies. Now, everyone wants their "reality" to be considered art. Put a camera on me, watch me, love me! Who has time to develop a skill or perfect a craft? Art is so pretentious anyway. Just watch me shop! Watch me drink! Watch me get in a fight and fall down! Ask me for my opinions on things I know nothing about!
I remember when there would be meetings, and a person who was an authority on a subject, or at least someone who was informed, would speak, and the audience would listen. But there's no audience anymore. Everyone stares at their phone. Some try to hide it under the table, others openly browse their e-mails or Facebook while others are talking to them. Some people even straight up take phone calls during a meeting. At the end, everyone pretends they were a part of something and that some action was accomplished, but then they run off to get back on their phones.
I remember when "the news" was a report of factual information and accounts of recent events. Stories were fact checked, free of biases, and informative. Now, whoever writes the article feels empowered to include their own opinions and make themselves a part of the story. The readers don't have much desire to discern the facts from the opinions. We just want to skip to the bottom of the page so we can read the comments. Like a car crash, they make us feel sick to our stomachs, but it's so entertaining when anonymous people fight! We can so easily pick the nameless avatars with whom we identify and agree with, and we applaud when they deliver the most perfect, concise, witty comeback. What was the story even about, again?
I remember when you had to read the fine print on a contract before you signed it. Now, there is too much fine print to ever read; it's everywhere. There is finer print underneath the fine print, and maybe there are comments below that, who knows? No one has ever gotten that far anyway. Of course, when the fine print is on our phone, we'll read that, just as long as it's about us, or someone less talented than us, or someone more talented than us who is wrecking their own life. That's entertainment!
I look forward to a day when we remember that being close to those that we love doesn't mean being able to digitally access them at any given moment. When we use the time we have face to face to tell all those stories that happened throughout the day, week, month or year, rather than expecting that they have already followed everything via texts, Facebook or Twitter. When we can appreciate someone's art without shoving our phone in their faces, or being distracted by our own phones in our own faces. When we realize we don't have to know everything about everyone at all times. When I can turn my phone off for an entire weekend and not even give a damn.
I remember when there were artists, and there was an audience. Now, everyone is the artist. Everyone wants their own audience, and have developed the ability to imagine that audience exists when it doesn't. We take photos of ourselves constantly. Even when someone else is nearby who could take a better photo, we'd prefer to take our own photo. It's not enough to just be in the photo, we want to shoot the photo also. Then we want people to "like" it.
I remember when there was an exciting intersection between art and commerce. An artist would create a work, and then a company would market that work to the people they hoped it would appeal to. Collections of songs were sold as albums. Scenes, written on paper, were acted out and filmed, and turned into movies. Now, everyone wants their "reality" to be considered art. Put a camera on me, watch me, love me! Who has time to develop a skill or perfect a craft? Art is so pretentious anyway. Just watch me shop! Watch me drink! Watch me get in a fight and fall down! Ask me for my opinions on things I know nothing about!
I remember when there would be meetings, and a person who was an authority on a subject, or at least someone who was informed, would speak, and the audience would listen. But there's no audience anymore. Everyone stares at their phone. Some try to hide it under the table, others openly browse their e-mails or Facebook while others are talking to them. Some people even straight up take phone calls during a meeting. At the end, everyone pretends they were a part of something and that some action was accomplished, but then they run off to get back on their phones.
I remember when "the news" was a report of factual information and accounts of recent events. Stories were fact checked, free of biases, and informative. Now, whoever writes the article feels empowered to include their own opinions and make themselves a part of the story. The readers don't have much desire to discern the facts from the opinions. We just want to skip to the bottom of the page so we can read the comments. Like a car crash, they make us feel sick to our stomachs, but it's so entertaining when anonymous people fight! We can so easily pick the nameless avatars with whom we identify and agree with, and we applaud when they deliver the most perfect, concise, witty comeback. What was the story even about, again?
I remember when you had to read the fine print on a contract before you signed it. Now, there is too much fine print to ever read; it's everywhere. There is finer print underneath the fine print, and maybe there are comments below that, who knows? No one has ever gotten that far anyway. Of course, when the fine print is on our phone, we'll read that, just as long as it's about us, or someone less talented than us, or someone more talented than us who is wrecking their own life. That's entertainment!
I look forward to a day when we remember that being close to those that we love doesn't mean being able to digitally access them at any given moment. When we use the time we have face to face to tell all those stories that happened throughout the day, week, month or year, rather than expecting that they have already followed everything via texts, Facebook or Twitter. When we can appreciate someone's art without shoving our phone in their faces, or being distracted by our own phones in our own faces. When we realize we don't have to know everything about everyone at all times. When I can turn my phone off for an entire weekend and not even give a damn.
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