The Technological Divide

Nothing says "Fuck Off" like a pair of headphones. To my delight, Apple's iPod multimedia player not only plays mp3's and video, but also makes me impervious to the advances of would-be solicitors passing out fliers to their mixers, rallies or social nights on my way to and from class. It's as though those little white earbuds are some sort of cloaking device. Once I'm online, I'm free to berate and demean fellow users on message boards while veiled behind a clever, often humorous, screen name, all without fear of physical harm or confrontation. All the goods and services that I may possibly need can in some way, shape, or form, be purchased over the internet, usually at better prices. It may just be my own opinion, but I'd rather put my credit card number at risk with e-Commerce than spend 15 minutes in traffic, another 5 looking for parking only to wait in line with wailing toddlers and other rude shoppers for a cashier who is ringing items up far too slowly because he despises his job.

Life in the 21st century is indeed an interesting one. We have been afforded a great deal of luxuries that, half a century ago, would have been considered only possible in the Jetsons. While we're not quite running on treadmills suspended in midair just yet, we are certainly gravitating towards that day. With the simple click of a button, we can do business with foreign nations, chat with potential new mates or simply catch up with friends half a world away. Cars now tell us where to go using advanced navigation systems and computers. The Roomba (c) is a tiny robot that lives in your home, periodically leaving its dock to vacuum your floor and return to its station; Rosie, is that you? But with the ease of life that technology brings about, there is also a fear that technology will begin to diminish the quality of our lives, making social interaction and human interface all but unnecessary.

At this very moment, there are an estimated 1.5 billion people in the entire world using the internet. E-mails are now the staple method of relaying information in offices and businesses across the world. In a 2003 study by IDC, an information systems research firm, there were an estimated 31 billion emails being sent daily and globally, and this figure was expected to double by the year 2006. Checks and money transfers are losing ground to the ease and speed of the electronic funds transfer. In order to keep up with the fast paced lifestyle that techonology has created, it is required for everything to be instantaneous.

So great has the impact of technology that it has even altered a multi-million industry such as the music and entertainment business. Downloading and digitization have brought these two industries to their knees. Less than ten years ago, record companies were suing over the distribution of mp3 files. Now, they disseminate their own music via mp3 format. The movie and rental industry has begun to follow suit. Why bother going to Tower Records to buy a CD when you can just download it through iTunes? What's the point of waiting in line at Hollywood Video when the movies you want to see are mailed to you? Is technology a factor in the decline and ultimate fall of these two once mighty retail chains? Left unchecked, technology could have the power to bring down a great number of retail fronts in a variety of industries, eliminating countless jobs for countless people.

The most glaring example of the allure of technology is the hugely popular online game, World of Warcraft. In a January 2008 press release issued by Blizzard, the game's producer, World of Warcraft had already surpassed 10 million subscribers worldwide. Of those 10 million subscribers, it is estimated that an average of 20 hours a week are spent battling goblins and dragons in the World of Warcraft. While it can be argued that since this time spent is playing with other human players it could technically be considered socializing, real life is happening while they dance with Elves and Dwarves. 20 hours a week in the World of Warcraft is 20 hours spent away from girlfriends, husbands, homework and most tragically, children.

In May 2005, a Korean couple left their four month old infant daughter at home alone as they made their way to a local Internet cafe to play what they thought would only be an hour or two of World of Warcraft. What was to only be a short gaming session turned into a five hour quest, and the couple returned home to find that their daughter had died of suffocation.

Myspace and Facebook now dominate the social networking sector of the teenage and college student life. So great a phenomena have these sites become, that often events that happen online may translate into real life passion, or frighteningly enough, violence. Hours spent tagging pictures, leaving comments, sending evites or even stalking a fellow student are hours that could be spent building personal contact and face to face relations with others. The preference of online contact and relationships in lieu of live interaction already signals a breakdown in the communication abilities and the crisis that human contact that our generation of technology freaks.

The cellular phone, once a symbol of wealth and importance in the early 1990's, is now a ubiquitous fixture in the daily lives of the masses. It connects people. It makes us available. Yet, we often hide behind them. We use them to protect ourselves from the person on the bus sitting immediately next to us. We use it to block out the conversation that the two people in front of us in line are having. We use it to shield ourselves when the potential for unwanted dialogue presents itself. While your T-Mobile Sidekick, Apple iPhone or Blackberry Pearl helps you bring you closer to your friends and family, it can also drive away all the others who don't have the honor of being on your contact list.

The rise to prominence of technology in the 21st century is at the same time a pinnacle of human advancement and a cause for concern. Could it be a reality that human civilization became so developed that it began to minimize the human element? Already, the lack of etiquette associated with the cell phone, its use during class, mid conversation or while driving(a practice that has already been made illegal), gives rise to suspicions of the decay of moral fiber. How many years will it be before what we consider as society, the world and its people around us, to be something that's digitized, that we connect to by means of a keyboard and a screen? As with all things in life, we must consider moderation as a viable option.

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