Caught David Crowder in Columbia, Thursday night and observed something I had noticed before, but not to this degree. By the way, Crowder brought his "A" game and the concert was really good despite the sinus headache that accompanied me. Ugh, rough with subwoofers.To be fair I was among the oldest there, so my take on this is probably skewed. I couldn't help but notice the number of young people who were furiously texting during the concert. I thought it might have been pre-concert time-killing, but as the evening went on it was obvious that our culture has developed a strong desire to be in touch even when we're out of touch.
There was a sense of being connected to someone far away, while being disconnected from the moment in front of us. This was more than multi-tasking. Students and many adults furiously worked keyboards and touch screens sending message after message, or constantly checked their phones for missed calls, or incoming messages. I guess it stood out because the house lights were out. And it was contagious. I even found myself checking messages. Fortunately my cell phone died 20 minutes into the concert and that was a wonderful gift because I was able to give the artist my undivided attention.
The band even got into it when one of the musicians took a picture of everyone from stage and posted it on Twitter right from the stage!
Stay tuned. I believe this divided connection at social events and ballgames is just the tip of the iceberg. We have yet to fully realize the cost, or consequences of our continual need to be in touch with several people simultaneously in multiple locations. I recently observed someone who was actually texting during a funeral! To think we can't silence our phone for even 30 minutes out of respect for the dead is telling. Hopefully that's an exception to our wired culture, but my gut says be prepared for even more.
Researcher Dr. Jean Twenge has observed that Gen Me views itself as "self important". The troubling thing in all of this is how far we have elevated "self". And that speaks large and loud in everthing social, theological, political, and professional. You see, I realize that I'm not that important. At 48, I know there are many things going on around me that are bigger than me. The world does not revolve around me. Maybe we need a technological blackout to wake us up, or minimally offer electronic etiquette classes for succeeding generations. It's going to be interesting to see how all of this shakes out.
2 comments:
Perhaps some of the "our continual need" you observed is brought on by simply the availability of technology. I wonder if prior, people sat in funerals and worried about their children, teens fantasized in concerts about their peers or friends and weren't really listening anyway, etc. Are we observing something we attribute to culture or generation that has always been with us but unexpressible in form until now?
Good point Jim but the outright audacity to text at a funeral is rude. Why is it so important to have our phones with us all the time? I leave mine in the car a lot and its ok. Technology is great but we need to teach responsibility and therein lies my beef.
Post a Comment