The Connectedness of Techdom

Do you wonder about the cennectedness of techdom? I do. Here we are - phones, faxes, cell phones, computer, internet, text messaging, ipods, pda's, berries and...whew - that's alot of opportunity for connecting. Only I question the connection.

Don't get me wrong - I am a teched out as the next, I adore it; I savor the knowledge that I can email a picture to someone thousand's of miles away and they will receive it in seconds; it thrills me to know I can call someone at any given time. I like techdom - but I question the connection.
Because it seems to me in the old days people were connected. I think of small villages, towns, clans, even. Everyone knew everyone. It was important; you always knew exactly everything that was going on; you had to! Missing out on the rustlings to your left could mean death. We look back on it as if it was some quaint thing, when small town people know everything about everyone, but there was a connection there, that for all our incredible technology, we are missing now. You were known. You couldn't get away with the b.s. because you were known.

Modern technology is built on anonymity, and that can be alluring, but it also covers that basic human need of connection, which just isn't present in our modern day life. We have cell phones so we can call anybody, at any time, anywhere. We have computers and internet and we can reach around the world, but what is the online world when held comparatively to the hug of a friend, or long talks over tea, or being amidst the funny, crazy, whacked members of the extended family, or a date, or ...human contact.

No - for all I love technology, I feel it is imperative for us as individuals to recall to ourselves the vast importance of personal relating. Techdom is empowering because we can do pretty much anything alone. Yeah it's great to reach out over email, but to call a friend, to take an hour to chat on the phone, or even better have dinner together, that's connectedness at a level our beloved techdom can't take us. For all the sympathy I might find in a chatroom with others who share a similar story, it is nothing compared to meeting with those same people as tears spring spontaenously out with the release of the incredible pain of dealing with life alone.

Am I going to stop using email, stop blogging, stop using my cell phone, stop using google? No way. It is rich with it's own experience. But I don't want to forget that the human experience has its own very rich rewards. The reward of human spirit cannot be surpassed by mere technology, the experience of human spirit - love, compassion, touch, sight, sound, feeling - this cannot be replaced and needs it place in our lives. We simply cannot forget that for all the time-saving devices we can come up with, there is nothing, nothing that replaces the sheer comfort of relating personally, and that's what we have to make time for.

Blessings.- Darshan
© 2008 Darshan F Jessop