Mar 11 2008
Tune in to tune out
In the immortal words of Charleston Heston in Planet of the Apes: “It’s a Madhouse!”
Yes, dear readers, it seems that the lunatics are running the asylum, and if you don’t know what I’m referring to, perhaps this picture will enlighten you.
Of course, one of the most salient features of a nut house is its foam-padded cells. All the walls and even the doors are covered with this protective foam to prevent the insane from hurting themselves.
And now, in a effort to protect Londoners from themselves, the Brits are transforming London into the largest insane asylum in recorded history… or else the largest nursery in history (foam padding is a shared feature in both instances.)
This bizarre turn of events in the annals of British history is made more poignant and sad by the fact that this once great people ruled the oceans of the world, which in effect ruled the world. Britain was once the hegemon of world, and now its people can’t even be trusted to walk and not run into immobile, inanimate objects.
Padded lampposts are being trialled in a London street to protect inattentive pedestrians.
A pilot scheme has been launched in Brick Lane after it was found to have the highest number of ‘walking and texting’ injuries in the country.
A study carried out by 118 118 found one in ten people has hurt themselves while focused on their mobile phone screen.
The charity Living Streets is so concerned that it has teamed up with the directory enquiries service to test a scheme to wrap up the nation’s lampposts.
A poll will be carried out on Brick Lane to gauge the response of locals.
If successful, the concept will be rolled out in Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool.
If you’re an American reading this smugly and sniping about the stupidity of Britons, well, rest comfortably knowing that we are not far behind.
In my previous post, I noted that there are more cellphone related car accidents than there are drunk driving accidents. With the advent of text messaging and other gadget doo-hickey’s, this number is likely to rise if trends continue.
Head-butts, though inconvenient and painful, are much more preferable over high-speed collisions, don’t you think?
This brings me yet another observation about our modern culture. So many forces in our culture try to coax us into tuning into our machinery and gadgets and tuning out the world around us.
Cellphones and iPods are excellent examples of this. In the use of these devices, you can remove yourself from your environment and sink into an electronic jacuzzi of mindlessness; that is, you can remove yourself from reality and the present moment.
There is a reason why many people refer to a person walking around with an iPod jacked to their ears a “Zombie”.
Blogger, Neo-Neocon, commented:
No, I haven’t turned into one of those iPod zombies one sees so often on the street and in the subway, lost in their own world of unending music on demand.
Zombie’s the word.
I get a kind of eerie Twilight Zone feeling when I walk into the Starbucks next door. When I open the glass door, there is a line of downturned heads glued into a laptop computer with an otherworldly blue light reflecting off their faces. On occasion, they’d all lift their heads from their computer and all stare at me in unison.
I don’t quite know why it is but computers and electronic devices make us mindless and zombie-esque.
Is it because of the fact that these electronic nodes jammed into our ears promote our narcissistic need to be titillated? And it’s a particular titillation, isn’t it? It’s the kind that’s mildly (numbed?) entertaining and it’s positively lacking in content. (Have you ever tried to have a substantive conversation with a narcissist? They positively don’t want content.)
Is it because being surrounded by these devices gives us the illusion of power? I mean, what’s more powerful that a push-button world? Don’t like the song? Next. Don’t like the video? Next. Don’t like the TV show? Next.
With a flicker of a finger, a cornucopia of unwanted things disappear. It gives you the illusion of god-like power.
If the Industrial Revolution reduced our treatment of our fellow Man into the callousness of interchangeable parts, what is this push-button cyber-age doing to our consciousness? How will we– how ARE we treating each other?
Neo-neocon went on to observe,
Much as I love my iPod, I’ve perceived over time that it has its own subtle drawbacks. When all one wants is at one’s fingertips, there’s a certain devaluation that comes along for the ride.
As pervasive as this wireless, techno-junkie trend is, one must ask the question: What will happen when reality intrudes upon a consciousness, a person, with a push-button mind frame?
How would a narcissist react to reality after a lifetime of evading it through these gizmos?