“I suggest you doing a little soul searching… cause’ to think you can have a so-called breakfast and totally ignore toast is just not normal”
Staggering in both its endearing sweetness and its bizarre,non-sequitur nature, “Amy's Answering Machine” is a great conversation starter. It’s easy to see why Ron chose it to jump start our discourse on technology’s impact on language and communication. It’s also possible make the argument that Ageism rears its ugly head in Amy’s “work” as well. Why isn’t Amy answering the phone? Or giving her mom the number to her cell? It’s certainly implied in the interview and a few others I read on Amy that she looks upon the answering machine as a blessing, a barrier that prevents her mom from “driving her crazy” all the time with the incessant phone calls. Perhaps it is a big jump to draw the corollary, but it bears mention that for all the lip service that technology is awarded for “bringing us together” and making human connection possible on a whole new scale, it does a great deal to keep us apart as well. More specifically, we often actively engage in the use of technology to isolate and separate ourselves from each other. Voicemail, email, SMS, EMS, IRC, IM and so on are all technologies which depersonalize and passively promote anonymity. Technology allows us to put a virtual wall around ourselves, a barrier we can choose to take down of course, but one that many seldom do. Another, even more ubiquitous example is digital audio players (DAP) such as the iPod or Zune. The small size, rapidly lowering cost and eminent portability of such devices allow virtually anyone to use such technology to block out the auditory sensory information all around them at will, another virtual wall separating us, not bringing us together, but keeping us apart.
Am I beginning to sound like Amy’s mom, worrying her daughter will swallow her new PDA? In my defense, I am no Luddite or technophobe. In fact, quite the opposite. I have openly embraced technology, making extensive use of several internet connected devices, a laptop and my iPhone daily. But all too often with any innovation or technological advancement, society is all too quick to laud the virtues and benefits inherent, with little or no attention paid to the potential salient disadvantages. I am simply attempting to play the devil’s advocate and hopefully provoke some push back and maybe a little “soul searching.” ^^
2 comments:
I don't know. I don't think it's agism so much as her mom's personality. When my friends would try to talk with me too much, I'd make up excuses to quiet them. For some, that much talk is easy, for others it's very hard and painful. I don't think it's predjudice in any way, so much as just conflicting personalities.
Love the idea of the "virtual wall" being built around us. Maybe the key insight here, rather than getting bogged down in the debate of whether tech brings us together or not, is that technology is neither inherently good or bad. It's up to us to utilize technology in ways that bring us together; it won't just happen. That is we must be critically engaged with all new technologies, tapping their potential good and never assuming any sort of panacea.
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