So, I am in class. I am steadily going through students' essay outlines and paragraphs, while they work on a narrative poetry assignment. All is quiet. Everyone is uncharacteristically on task. Some are plugged into their iPhones because Jobs forbid they should go without. A student puts up his hand and asks me what rhymes with "work". Another student pipes up, "There's an app for that. It can tell you all the words that rhyme with any word."
"Great, I say. Is there an app that can help you cross the street? You will need that soon."
I mean come on people. Have we become so dependent on technology that we can't perform any task without it? We can't find a restaurant, or bake a cake, or go a minute without changing our status on Facebook or Twitter. Because, you know life would not be the same if we can't instantly find out that one of our friends is biting her nails, or about to dye his hair.
Thinking is so outdated anyway.
I can't tell you the amount of times I have had to sit and watch as someone blathered on their cell phone during dinner, or having a coffee. Cooper forbid we should go through a whole dinner or a coffee without being reached. Who cares about the person we are with? Why aren't they on their mobile phones?
Like really.
I have observed couples on a date sitting across from each other, porcelain plates, silver cutlery, linen, candles, the works between them while they each jabber on their phone.
Yeah. Romantic.
People walk down the street or onto buses or stand in lines yammering to their phones. Treating everyone to the mundane details of their lives, and then give others dirty looks if they happen to overhear. Maybe we should go spontaneously deaf in public so they can have their privacy.
Maybe there's an app that will simulate a mate or a friend and we can do without the face-to-face interactions altogether. :)
5 comments:
Yeah Genie....great minds and all that.
I agree with you 100% and teaching these kids on a daily basis must blow your mind.
I honestly fear for my daughter growing up in a world where people may not have a clue how to interact face-to-face.
Thank the gods for people like you, present teachers who can encourage them to "keep it real".
over and out :)
Amen to that, Genie ! Are we thinking folks going the way of the dinosaur ? Only time will tell.
A few times lately, I have been thinking I need an apprentice - you know like Mr.Miyagi had his Karate Kid to teach "Patience, grasshopper." ? I would love to have a young person under my wing who would really love to learn to be a thinker, a seeker, an artist and a bit of a philospher...not to mention an apprentice Rock Fairy...
Do you have one of those ?
Maybe if I put that in my intentions for the future...
You go teach, Teach...they need you, even if they think there is an app for that !
Had to laugh at the "thinking is so outdated" comment. :D
Btw, would you please e-mail me? My laptop crashed and I lost all my address book. Talking about technology. ;)
I love technology but sometimes people get out of hand with it. My biggest pet peeve to hear people talk about their lives in detail and loud!!!
This is SO well written - well constructed and well thought out.
You must have used an app...
Kidding. Obviously your thinking is alive and well.
I love to leave my hotel, when I'm on the road for work, and WALK to a restaurant. I don't know ahead of time what I'll find - my choice may be limited by what I can find in the time and energy I have to discover it, but I will deeply know where I've been. I've taken some odd walks, in strange places not meant for pedestrians, and for this reason I feel I have been through the belly of the beast and have seen what others do not see of our world and the technology and transportation systems we have built. It makes me feel more alive.
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