Life As Performance Art 136

It is interesting being one of the few humans who doesn't carry with him a smartphone (pardon the old-fashioned gendering of pronoun, Gentle Reader. I simply will not use they unless it pertains to more than one, persons or objects). I just heard on a science radio program, Spectrum, from Germany, that the science is in: screen time, or excessive screen time, is bad for you. For small children it stalls their development, and larger children and adults are less skilled as full human beings, more prone to depression and anxiety, and more at risk of suicide. Who knew? I still find myself apologizing for not having a phone. It can be inconvenient, at work for example (and my employers are simply too stingy and mean-spirited to provide me with a phone, and they do not pay me a living wage making getting my own smartphone rather financially unrealistic), as well as for securing social contacts and arrangements. But really, Gentle Reader, didn't we cope well enough before we were so thoroughly spoiled by this technology? We still all got to our work and assignments and meetings on time, and we still got to see one another after work in the pub or the coffee shop, or even (¡qué horrores!) in our own homes. But now we are all so spoiled and with the attention span of puppies, we re not likely to cope well unless we have that little tile shaped piece of high tech in our hand every waking minute (and perhaps every sleeping minute) of our anxiety and fear-ridden lives. That convenience of being able to check and confirm our appointments down to the last nano-second has done a lot to compromise our patience and our ability to develop real character as mature and responsible adults, transforming us all into spoiled and neurotic control freaks. I remember just recently when a colleague at work was nearly shitting in his knickers because I didn't have a phone to help confirm and track and coordinate our movements while we were arranging to meet with a rather challenged client. When he wanted to know how I was going to manage, I simply smiled and replied, "the old-fashioned way." We did not succeed in meeting with the client, by the way, not because I didn't have a phone, but because the client simply was not in the mood for going out with us that day. Please note that I am not dissing technology. Of course it is useful, and naturally it can smooth things, make connections easier and more convenient, and do a lot to enhance and enrich our experience of learning and communication. If we're willing and prepared to use it that way, and that is one big F-ing IF! But I do not need to be constantly hooked up to these technologies in order to get through my day. In fact, they would only get in the way. We have been evolutionarily wired to see and hear things from where we are, where we are. We are biologically designed to interact with one another in person. Because that is how our species has evolved over millions of years, none of that is going to change in even one or two centuries, and the purveyors of technology and our various other masters are simply going to have to reckon with this if the technology is not going to end up destroying us. I somehow think there is going to be too much pushback, eventually anyway. We are experiential beings, Gentle Reader, and we have to have at our fingertips, not our little smart toys, but real tactile human experience and contact, with one another and with the rest of nature. I am content to go on living without a smartphone. My life is actually all the richer and more meaningful without that little tech nuisance. I can see and hear and smell and interact with everything and everyone around me, and sometimes it is almost intoxicating, but I am not going to permit AI or anything else to deprive me of this very human and very divine right. Part of our problem, as humans, is we all have the nature of slaves, even the most stubbornly independent and individualistic among us, and we will gladly submit ourselves to any convenience just to avoid getting on with the daily work and drudgery that comes with being really and truly human. We are that pathetic, I'm afraid. This isn't to say that there are no benefits to computer and phone technology. Tonnes! You can phone for help if there is someone in distress (which is to say, if you are able to care enough to get your face out of your dear little screen long enough in order to notice and care that there are other people besides your exalted self!). You can quickly check and confirm facts and schedules. I am still willing to forgo the convenience as a small price to pay for real and direct human experience. At home is where I leave my laptop. On top of my desk, right next to my landline phone (remember those, darlings?) What do I use my computer for? Well, you can get your minds out of the gutter, first of all, because I do not look at porn. Never have, never will, and I am not lying. And I am not on Facebook, which is the next-worse thing, nor Instagram, Snapchat, and I haven't even bothered to look at or contribute anything to Quora in months. So, in this order, this is what I do on my computer: I check, read, answer and write emails to friends and associates. I search Google images for ideas for making art (an incredibly rich source!). I write this blog. I Skype with my friend in Colombia, twice a week and we help each other with our second languages, Spanish and English (and he has become a very dear friend). I Skype with others who are interested in language exchange. I also read articles on Wikipedia and other pages to enlarge my information and enrich my learning experience. I watch videos on YouTube, especially documentaries in Spanish to both enrich my language experience, while learning new things. I sometimes take online university courses. That's about all, Gentle Reader. And I sometimes read books (though I still prefer old.fashioned paper and ink.) Happy Sunday, darlings!