The feeling of productivity, to some, is exhilarating. I'm unashamedly one of those people. And because doing one thing at a time just isn't good enough, we've redefined the concept of multitasking.
Now you can chat with a friend, catch up on the news, and write your English essay all at the same time. Why bother flying to visit relatives when you can save time (and money) by Skyping?
Not to mention all the new verbs that have stemmed out of this new technology. Nowadays, we can Skype, Google, IM, text, and Tweet. And it's a testament to the rapid growth of the young technology industry -- one that has been around for only 50 or so years -- that terms like "IM" and "GameBoy" have already gone out of vogue, and companies like MySpace have crashed and burned in a matter of a few short years.
Things move fast in the Internet world. News travels at the speed of light. If you're not enlightened within a few hours, you're already behind. The world runs on "Internet time."
Multitasking is the new modus vivendi. If your brain isn't wired to move a million miles an hour and juggle five different things at once, life in modern society is going to be tough for you.
For our generation, that's life going on as normal. The idea of a world without iPods and iPads, video games and smartphones, Windows and Xbox is an unfathomable, archaic one. To me, there's no better indication of the frightening power of technology that, when we lost our power in December 2006 to a storm, we were utterly lost and bored without our computers and cell phones. After all, what is there to life if you don't know what every one of your friends is doing every second of the day?
4 comments:
Hasn't multitasking been debunked?
How so? I'm afraid I don't quite understand what you mean by that...
Hi Maya,
Just dropping by to wish you happy holidays. xoxo
Interesting observations. It's funny how people take their tech for granted. I know when my Laptop crashes and won't come back on I get pretty nervous to the point of sweating. I think it may be information addiction, and I don't think it's new deal. Things like Gossip and News have always been treasured and now a wireless world can stream it diretly to your digital device like an IV.
The interesting thing though is what folks do in those moments when the power's out, humanity is nothing if not adaptable, and though you may be "bored" without access to the network, you'll find something to do and hopefully you'll realize "There is never nothing going on".
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