People who are absorbed in electronic gadgets...

General discussions relating to the story.
pezar
Posts: 153
Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 3:41 pm

People who are absorbed in electronic gadgets...

Postby pezar » Sun Jul 18, 2010 9:11 pm

I was at the Italian market today (the only place in town that still sells actual FOOD, god bless the Italians) and this guy at checkout was blabbing on his iPhone and trying to get an American Express card to work-the store doesn't take them. The cashier was trying to communicate this fact to the guy, but he only put down the phone long enough to get another card from his wallet. He paid and walked off with his stuff, still talking on the phone. Everybody in line was mocking him after he left.

So many people are totally absorbed in electronic gadgetry nowadays that they don't notice the world around them. I am reminded of Chris's letter to Ron Franz, where he scolds Ron for not stopping at the Grand Canyon, only to get back to the same old thing. When I worked as a teacher's aide in a school district, I noticed that the computers placed in the classrooms for "education" were mainly used to watch rap videos over the net. The teacher did a brief lesson for 20 minutes, then the kids spent the rest of the time online, watching rap videos.

Kids have iPhones and iPods and they seem to exist in their own little world. They would rather text than talk face to face or on a phone. Adults have the Blackberry which is aptly dubbed "Crackberry". I have read posts on other boards from teens who don't feel like they belong with other teens because they lack the ability to be consumed by electronics.

When I was a teen in the early 90s all we had were toll free pagers. I still remember the really dumb radio commercials from Beeper City in Santa Clara: "Beepers! Beepers! Beepers! I'm Beeperman, the KING of beepers!" My friends called these the "Beeper Dummy Commercials". Beeper City is ancient history, teens now have all the latest junk from Apple. You could ignore a beeper. Teens don't ignore their phones, they get lost in them. There are books on "the narcissism epidemic".

Maybe it's good that Chris died, because he would have HATED our world. Hated it! We have a global economic collapse and people complain that no bank will give them credit to buy more useless junk, and keep up all the contracts for it. Slow down, get the basic $40 Metro PCS phone, junk the $200/mo iPhone, get rid of your stuff, there's a whole world out there and these people think life is all about work, work 18 hours a day, 22 hours a day, keep a schedule that would make a Khmer Rouge functionary blush, all for a huge house to fill with junk you never enjoy and clothes that are worn once with the tags on so you can return them to the store. It's insane, and the big collapse doesn't seem to have jolted people (especially teens) awake. Maybe the collapse they're predicting for just after the US elections will.

Return to “General Discussions”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests