Brave New World

If you have followed national news at all in the last year, you have seen there is a concern in our country about too large of a government. Barrack Obama has begun to be portrayed as a socialist who will put in place some kind of “1984” oppressive government. This essay is not about whether there is any validity to those claims, but rather about our misplaced concerns.

We are concerned about an oppressive government that will take away our freedoms. What we should really be focused on is that our freedoms are already being taken away by the oppressive lifestyles we have acquired and with which we have fallen in love. We are worried about “1984” when we are already apart of a “Brave New World.”

An observation of our own daily lives can be a little depressing, but necessary for the beginnings of change. Each of us it seems look for or crave either constant distraction, constant work, or constant entertainment. How many of us when we wake up, gravitate toward either the t.v., music, or the computer to check on our social networking site. Then we get in our cars and turn the stereo on before we even pull out of the driveway. Then whether you are at work or at home, most of the day is filled with the constant background noise of some piece of media equipment. Then after dinner, the day is finished off either watching t.v., playing video games, or again perusing our social networking site. I’ve noticed even social gatherings seem to have at least 1 or 2 people playing on their I-phones the whole time. I have even witnessed myself and others “multi-slacking” (urban dictionary word), being on both the t.v. and facebook at the same time.

What percentage of the day does all this add up to compared with time spent in real interaction or conversation (testing and instant messaging does not count) with real people? How many of you parents converse or play with your kids, but still with one eye on the t.v. or the computer. How many of you couples take walks together or play a game together without watching t.v. or being on the computer at the same time? I love the new Verizon commercial advertising their new “all in one” Droid phone. The commercial depicts different people in different circumstances, but none of them are paying attention to life. Everyone of them is smiling and playing on their phone. If that is not a picture of falling in love with that which oppresses us, I don’t know what is. The sad thing is Verizon knows that those images help to market their product. If we break it down, that means they are positive people will be watching that commercial and thinking “that’s what I want. I want to be on a romantic horse-back ride on the beach surfing the web instead of living for the moment.” But the most depressing thing about the commercial is it is not that much of an exaggeration. All of us multiple times in a day trade in real life for media distraction. I want to be clear and say that I am not saying all these things in and of themselves are bad. I see great benefits from t.v., the computer, and especially music. But our society has evolved in such a way that our days are almost completely filled with the artificial.

I have been trying little experiments in my daily routine to try and remedy some of this problem in my own life. These experiments have been difficult, but in the end have been very freeing. When I first wake up in the morning (if up before my kids), instead of sitting at the table with my breakfast and my laptop, I bring my bowl of cereal to the couch and enjoy the scenery out our big picture window. As it starts warming up, I plan on eating out on the deck. When I get in the car, I resist the urge to turn on the stereo, and instead roll down my window. The latter experiment has been more refreshing than I thought it would be. Having the stereo off has made thinking and reflecting on life much easier. And I love the feeling of hearing and feeling the wind whip past me with the window rolled down.

Another problem I have had in my life is being too focused on what I am doing and where I am going. I rarely notice the world around me. Now with the short journey from house to car, I try to look up at the sky. This may sound a little silly, maybe even cheesy, but this simple act has helped bring wonder at God’s creation into my daily life. I have even introduced this habit to my children. Now one of my daughters favorite things to do besides climb trees with me, is lie on our grass and look at cloud shapes. To think, I use to sit inside on the computer just watching her out the window. I have also implemented a few other changes in our family life. When eating a meal or just playing with my kids in the living room, I try to have a majority of the day without music in the background. The first day I tried this, within the first 20 minutes, my daughter turned to me and asked “why is it so quiet?” I simply answered “because there’s no music on, it’s nice huh?” She delightfully answered “yes.” We still like to blast the music and have a dance party with our kids every once in a while, but there is something very special about the only noise in the house being that of us playing with our children.

A lot of my generation grew up as “latch key children.” Our parents worked a lot and got home late. This helped to contribute to a generation of kids and their parents who didn’t talk and process life together. The current generation is growing up much the same way, but maybe worse. Those days, t.v. was a major boundary between kids and parents even when they were home at the same time. Today, t.v. watching has increased and testing and the internet have been added to it. We must learn to strive against the constant wave of media inventions. Use them, benefit from them, but don’t let them replace real life. Don’t become that Verizon commercial and replace real human interaction with a digital screen. Fight against the brave new world.

I recently watched a documentary called “Disconnected.” It is about 3 college students who tried to quit using computers for 3 weeks. One of them cheated only once. However, they all seemed to have a very loose definition of what a computer was and still played video games at the arcade. One of them also tried to justify having someone else use the computer for them as they just stood behind them giving them instructions. But all of them, a vast majority of the time, were not on computers which for these generation “Y” kids was very impressive. Typically computer usage fills up about 90% of these college students day. They do homework, they socialize there and they entertain themselves there with downloaded shows and movies.

Throughout the film you find admissions every once in a while that because they are not on the computer they were able to do things they don’t normally do. One young man talked about how much he was enjoying being outside and going for walks. Another even learned how to play a musical instrument. In one scene we get to watch a young man call his mom on the phone instead of e-mailing her. When he is off the phone, he admits to the camera how awkwardly intimate it felt to be talking voice to voice with his mom. One girl found it hard to put in to words the benefits she has found by not being on the computer so much. She put it like this: “It’s weird, I’ve found myself… thinking.”

These students then tried to get others on campus to just try and go one day without using the computer. When students asked “why”, the best reason they could give was “just to see if you can do it.” I found myself baffled that these students who had been going for walks, learning to play a musical instrument and “thinking” could not put into words why others should try this experiment.

Finally, once these 3 students were able to get back on their computers we got some insight. One guy got on and binged for most the day in order to catch up on his 300 some emails, his face book, and his bog. Another guy, the one who cheated the most, felt like he did not enjoy the experiment. Even though, the experiment was his idea, he is the only one of the three who never really committed to it.

But, the one girl, got on her e-mail of which she had around 320 new messages and soon burned out. In 30 minutes she was able to go through about half of them. She commented that most of the e-mails were not necessary and freely admitted that e-mail would be the easiest thing to do without, because “people could just call you.” Three weeks had showed her how much time she wastes on the computer thinking everything on it was essential for life. The movie ends with her closing her laptop after 30 minutes and saying: “I don’t need to do anymore right now, I think I’ll go do laundry.”