It’s wild. Marx talked about isolation and alienation with tech. I note that cell phones killed payphones, therefore a whole aspect of community is destroyed.. milling about payphones, sitting in little glass cages of emotion, etc. I looked for one last night and people treat me like caveman lawyer.
It’s awkward because the knee jerk reaction was that I use it in those moments of free time… to delete email, or to play a word game, etc. Most of the time it wouldn’t work so it wasn’t the convenience of a phone so much as a machine that caused annoyance. I mean it.. it’s like buying a product that is literally built to piss me off. That’s odd consumerism.
So I went to the city to drop off my car last night, took the 2 to the Ferry Building, met with friends for drinks, and took the Ferry home. It was really awkward without a phone. I thought it meant i need it.. but again….
What a lack of accountability it creates! Since cell phones people flippantly, haphazardly cancel meetings. They get mad at you if they text you they have pushed lunch back 30 minutes, if while driving to lunch you already arranged you don’t get the message.
In past days, we would say “I will meet you in 2 weeks on the corner of so on and so forth. 3.45p.”
And then you met. Accountability. Ownership of plans and life and schedules.
Cell phones are making us forgetful… no need to think deeply about the list for the grocery store, or hardware store… someone can text you at the last second as you drive away “WE NEED TOILET PAPER!”
I am not sure it’s so healthy. Just because everyone else is less responsible, has less control or ownership over their lives…. because it is eroding any semblance of accountability…
I really want to not own one. My wifey was indignant when I said all this… because it’s basically a referendum on her, right?
I just think it is ludicrous. I have a feeling we will move away from them in the future.