On a recent flight from Sydney to Melbourne, I was intrigued by the well dressed, educated male on the seat in front of me. He had a plethora of devices: iPhone, iPad, photocopied handouts of an alternative online paper, a print newspaper as well as the inflight magazine.
On the eighty minute flight he ploughed through everything before him. Nonetheless, I was intrigued not only by the active magazine on his iPad but in addition by the obliviousness of his to each of the passengers. As he continuously twitched, rubbed the hair style of his and fidgeted, More info – www.southwhidbeyrecord.com, in addition, he selected the ears of his on several occasions, pondered the wax on the finger of his then ate it.
Not only was I disgusted and quite shocked – after all, that was no doddery old male and have a pot belly plus sprouting nose and ear hair who might be forgiven for senility. This fellow was in his early 30s, well dressed and naturally aware of design and image judging by the choice of his of black, well – fitted clothing. But choosing earwax and consuming it in public? Seriously? The image of a well-manicured and coiffed gentleman dissolved in an instant. The following was a male so engrossed in technological innovation which he did not realise he was snacking on waxy discharge in public.
This made me wonder why he thought he was invisible when there’s clearly a planeload of passengers around him. A common complaint by midlife women is that they’re invisible. Nonetheless, I am able to nearly ensure that when a well dressed, fifty year old girl began picking out her physical bits to eat in public, individuals would certainly notice.
So what made the man think he’d entered a cocoon of security where he could eat and fidget away without anyone noticing? Does having a set of technological devices capture our attention quite completely we forget the individuals surrounding us?
Partly it’s something to do with the relationship we form with technology. We straightaway personalize the latest devices of ours with passwords, photos, downloads and then engage quickly with social networking. Technology permits us to dismiss outside stimuli so we’re immersed in a world where only 2 things exist: the interface and ourselves.
Technology is the perfect companion; it does what we wish, when we wish and where we wish. We create a new feeling and reality of being when we get into technology’s lure as well as, similar to the ancient Greek sirens, it is extremely hard, once ensnared, to let go.
The downside of technology is that we are able to become oblivious of the immediate surroundings of ours, the existence of people and also the environment.