Ryan ChartrandQuick show of hands: how many of you have an iPod?
If you do and you’re a student at Cal Poly, then chances are, you got yours in the last four years and that little clickable interface is like second nature to you. The latest hit single has been at your fingertips for most of your adult or even teenage years and with 1,000 songs readily at your disposal, the walk between classes need never be boring again.
Just watch out for that bicyclist as you pass Dexter Lawn. He’s got one too and he’s far too engrossed in Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” to notice you crossing in front of him.
Just for a minute let me take you on a spin through memory lane. The year is 2004. A war is on and a presidential election is under way, but that’s not important for the moment. What is important is that you and the biker haven’t met yet.
It’s a very interesting year for technology buffs. In January, Apple announced that its just sold their 2 millionth iPod. In February and March ICANN, the government body which assigns and tracks internet addresses, finds itself under attack from media companies and from the United Nations. In October, Wired Magazine recognized podcasts as “the new twist on Internet audio.”
In short, 2004 was a year in which the digital landscape that so many know and love was shaped.
It was also the year I personally started to take notice of the growing phenomenon of social isolation that was taking hold due to technological reliance.
Sure, cell phones had already become fixtures in daily life and people complained about the emergent propensity of the “dial and drive” trend, but it was also the year that more individuals than ever started tuning in to their iPods and tuning out the real world.
Remember the dancing baby commercials? They were a perfect symbol for the isolation and insulation that was taking hold. Babies are supposed to explore the world around them with a sense of wonderment and joy and here was a commercial summing up the new human experience as rocking out to your preselected compilation.
Technology is a wonderful tool, allowing instant communication – even constant communication – with friends, family and total strangers. There has always been a debate, however, that the benefits of mobile communication outweigh the social consequences.
In 2004, I was a high school senior, still, I have to admit, a little preoccupied with the frivolities of movies and video games, which was not so unusual (many of my peers still are). But that year, I had a chance encounter that changed my perspective on the use of technology in our daily lives.
I had taken a little trip from the sleepy town of 5,000 where I spent my formative years, to visit my best friend in the nearest city of 150,000 people. It may not seem like a big deal, but to me it was a bit of a culture shock when I got out of the car and realized everyone my age was milling about, either with their eyes on the ground chatting on a cell phone or bopping along with those little white cords hanging from their ears.
After being introduced to my friend’s new girlfriend, which had been part of the point in my journey, we all piled into his car to grab a pizza. I was perplexed when she got into the backseat and proceeded to rock out to U2 on her iPod mini.
She had become one of the pod people. My consternation was made complete when, as we puttered along in traffic, my friend’s cell phone rang and he began a very detailed conversation with a classmate over the tensile strength of steel (engineering students, what are you going to do?).
I realized very suddenly that, although I was in a vehicle with two other people, I was very much alone. The use of electronic gizmos allowed them to create their own realities, and consequently robbed us all of any meaningful experience in the moment.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized how socially isolated we all have the potential to become due to the unfortunate consequences of busy lives and rampant technological intrusion. The issue seems at first glance overwhelming and complex. With GPS maps we don’t ask for directions. With iPods we don’t have to pay attention. With cell phones we can talk to someone far away instead of the person we’re sitting next to. With MySpace and Facebook we speak to “friends” through an IM interface instead of speaking to neighbors across the fence.
It may be part of the reason that a quarter of Americans said in a 2006 study that they had no one with whom they can discuss their private trials and tribulations. No real friends in other words. That number was double the findings for the 1985 study (a period when most people thought that letters arrived in the mail and not on a computer).
I’m not saying that there’s nothing to be done about it. California recently addressed public safety concerns with the ban on using handheld cell phones while driving (although you can still talk via Bluetooth) and New York state attempted to use similar grounds last year to ban use of electronic devices that distract pedestrians as they cross the street.
Legislation will never solve the underlying cause though. My advice is, as you’re walking across campus, talk to your friends, talk to your classmates, and make some friends.
Take the ear buds out and stop to smell the rosebuds, There are some lovely gardens near the Education building.
Camas Frank is a journalism junior and a Mustang Daily reporter.