This was written on my Apple Touch about 3 years ago, and it has been sitting on it ever since. Tonight whilst clearing out data I happened upon it again. I’ve decided to publish as is. Your responses are welcomed on any part of what I have said.
It’s our action and in-actions that effect the outcome. This is never more obvious on the train to & from work.
Each person we choose not to speak with, the person we avoid, the loudness of the ear/head-phones to our music – each of these choices will effect opportunities to meet somebody interesting.
Yet we live in a society whose presence is predominately active on the WWW and not set in the real world. This shallow existence is a result of technology built for extreme situations being sold to the masses with a vague byline that suggests it will improve their lives.
Which, to some degree, has happened – there’s little doubt of that. Businesses both big and small use this avenue to promote their wares more extensively. Up-n-coming startups are able to show off, thereby encouraging Angels and investors. Businesses can diversify their product range for a solely online audience.
And sole propietors can subtley promote their ideas and progects with little expense -other than the monthly cost of an Internet connection.
Yet it is this activity that is slowly destroying the way of life we knew before we had the Internet. The carefree travelling across the country is dissappearing as a new generation insist that each destination has FREE Wifi.
In our attempts to move freely across this un-worldly terrain, we choose unusual actions, we choose to be ‘friends’ with people we’ve never met, and sometimes we choose circumstances that suit the supposed requirements of the lives we think we’d like to have.
Yet we still continue to restrict ourselves. The actions we don’t take, the direction alongside life’s path we ignore, the pain avoided, the lesson left unheeded, the friendships abandoned, each of the non-actions stop each of us from progressing.
Despite all these choices, we still accumulate material items.
Example:
My shoulder bag is now ‘Crumpler‘, my diary is ‘Apple‘, my pen and paper are careful purchases to ensure high quality, my music is a massive collection of MP3’s and MPEG’s!My camera, computer & related accessories are now the best, yet I still refuse to pay full price – because I always haggle for goods. But these materialistic items pale into insignif’ when you look at what has been given up or lost.
Normal conversation with mouth-breathers has been replaced with 140 characters, each of which has been carefully chosen to ensure the maximum impact. Whereas previously we could have mashed the English language with grammatically incorrect colloquialisms, people either destroy words with SMS-speak or torture us with corporate jargon that only their peers comprehend.
Yes, it seems to have ended halfway through the story, yet since the moment in which I wrote this (presumbably during the 40minute train-ride into town) is long gone, I have chosen to leave it it at this interlude.
Maybe it went too far even. You choose.
Feel free to comment on my thoughts.
Creativity & Artwork of Stephen Mitchell 
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