Noobies VÜ

Hello childrens,
Today's post is one I have been thinking about for some time, but not so much in blog form, more so in cartoon. But alas, I am not an illustrator and would have difficulty in bringing forth this concept in a single- or even, multi-panel comic. Is there a difference between comic and cartoon? Imma look that up. hold on... apparently it would be more accurate to say cartoon. The more you knoowwwww.

So anyhoo, as many of you know I have someone living in the house that is still fully in his teens. I have many friends in their teens, but I haven't really spent the amount of time with them that I have with him. It's kind of illuminating. But I've almost decided also sorta sad.

I would say he is a true child of technology. It's like he's got a tether to his phone and/or Facebook. It's a constant in his life. It's almost like he sprang from the head of Google fully formed. He has a far better grasp of Teh Interwebs and their concomitant peer-to-peer social networks, than I do after having been trained and making a living teaching it to people for the last 4 years. It's somewhat scary. I don't think it would be hyperbole to say that I think he would literally go into withdrawal were he to be away from his phone or internet access for any length of time.

Is that bad? I rather think so: anything that, when removed, causes a negative reaction can be defined as an addiction.

This is the thing: when driving down the road he seems to have blinders on. If he doesn't have his phone up to his nose he pretty much just stares down the road. No external stimuli seems to get through. If I point out a vehicle/sign/etc it takes him minutes to react, and he rarely sees the vehicle/sign/etc in question; unless we're stopped beside it.

Noticed the same thing this morning, hot guy getting his bike off the bus. I noticed him from over a block away. I attempted to bring this fellow to his attention, (as I thought he might be someone he too could enjoy looking at) it was akin to pointing out the melting point of steel; no reaction, no comment, and I doubt he even heard me.

So is it deleterious that he seems to live life through a 3.5" screen? I think so. So many things seem to go on around him, and probably others of his ilk, without so much as a mention or raised eyebrow. I watched a fellow cram a case of empties into a trash can at the Mirastar at Walmart yesterday. And I mean CRAM; he fought it! He put on these fussy little gloves (probably to keep the diesel smell off his hands) and then rounded up a bunch of trash from his truck and proceeded to throw it away. I was entertained watching him shove what amounted to a bowling ball through softball sized hole. (this is almost akin to birth, no? not to minimize birth as that the size discrepancies are much greater) This guy did everything short of standing on the box to get it in the trash can; beating, slamming, pushing, nudging, coercing. I chuckled, (this is one of those arbitrary logic tests life seems to send to us.) with the knowledge that had he simply pulled the top off the can he could have easily placed the box into it. Anyhoo, I glanced over at my young friend and he was oblivious to the goings on; eyes intently staring at his cellphone that was millimeters from his face. (he later pointed out he didn't have his glasses on natch)

This, as I mention with the instances above, is common with him. It seems if it doesn't happen online, it doesn't matter, nor perhaps, does it really exist. What else could he be missing? What else could all people who are so attached to their technology be missing? I'm not a Luddite, I rather enjoy technology. But when does it become a crutch? When we mention stopping and smelling the roses, how soon will there come a reply, "Why? I have an app for that."

So that's my concern. Are we becoming a race of beings that will soon only interact through digital and artificial means? I know our parents were concerned with our dependence on video games and tv and the like, just as theirs were probably concerned about a whole host of distractions. This is not a new phenomenon, though, like technology and its doubling at a shorter rate each time, it is getting more and more insidious and invasive. There is so much to see, touch, taste, and smell, that to try and get those experiences from a wafer of silicone, is such a tragic "advancement" in life.

My cartoon? I envisage a couple panels showing a car crashing into a home, and a ufo landing and little green men rescuing all the people inside the vehicle and home and then by some mystic power ray restoring everything in sight to its former glory. All of this witnessed by a couple of people in a car, one with his mouth agape and gobsmacked by what he witnessed. The other with a smart phone or netpad who comments excitedly, "Oh my god, did you just see that!? The new Breaking Dawn trailer is awesome! That movie is going to rock!"