Well, I`m not. At least I haven`t become one so far. I have so far resisted the temptation of buying an iPhone. They're expensive, I earn only a little more than minimum wage, and I would rather put money in the bank for my old age and for foreign travel. Not a lot of people on low incomes can afford these addictive plastic rectangles. I have a free cell phone, an old-fashioned flip phone for work. It is also my language practice. I have mentioned in other posts, I believe, that I have an imaginary friend, Fulano (Spanish for What's-Its-Face) whom I address on my lengthy chats with my voice mail, all in Spanish. I do this a lot during my many long walks. It is excellent for improving fluency, though still not quite a substitute for live flesh-and-blood Spanish speakers. But really, that is the closest I get to being a cyborg.
I do spend plenty of time on my laptop when I'm at home. I have to if I am going to write this blog. I also am still doing research for the art classes and of course reading and writing emails, though not all the time given that I'm not that popular. I also try to watch at least a portion of a video on YouTube in Spanish every evening. I don't read a lot online. The screen light is not comfortable for my eyes, so I prefer to get my news from the CBC Radio as well as the various newspapers I read throughout the week. Every weekday I pick up copies of both our free local daily papers, Twenty-Four Hours and Metro. Thursdays I pick up the free weeklies from their various boxes: the Courier, the West Ender and the Georgia Strait. Saturdays I splurge and spend four glorious dollars and twenty cents for the weekend Globe and Mail. I do this not only because I like print, but also to maintain what for me is a safe and healthy distance from social media. I refuse to become consumed. So, that is the extent of my reliance on technology and social media. I have allowed my Facebook account to atrophy and have never followed through on Twitter. I prefer to deal with people in person. I see hundreds and thousands of mindless human drones wandering the sidewalks every day, hunched over their little phones, oblivious to their surroundings. This looks both pathetic and sinister. And it is likely a harbinger of what is coming: a race of humans so entirely dependent upon communications technologies that they are unable to function independently, of anything. Perhaps they'll even come up with an app that will wipe your ass for you.
Speaking of which I heard on the CBC today about a camp for cleansing people of their high tech toys. It is a four day camp, probably expensive as hell, and you submit your phone and laptop and live with other campers absolutely tech-free. There doesn't appear to be much occasion for solitude or reflection, as it is twenty-four/seven fun group activities. I would prefer a situation without laptop or phone but a bare minimum of group activities. Something more like a spiritual/religious retreat in a monastery. We have meals together and quiet times of prayer or meditation together, but otherwise we are each on our own and forced to face and reckon with ourselves and those cold empty black holes that years of constant diversion have turned our souls into.
I really prefer real face time with others. It is only when we are together in one another's presence, seeing the various subtle expressions in our faces and eyes, hearing the subtle nuances and intonations in our voices, in a way, being able to smell one another, that we can really be together. You cannot do this online, not even on Skype, which would be otherwise better than nothing.
I also heard on the CBC this morning about an enterprising fellow who has invented an app to help people get away from their phones. Simply the app freezes their phones or computers for an hour or longer so they can get other work done. I suppose he is expecting to get richer than Croesus. I say, how pathetic, and how weak we have all become.
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