TITLE: Ubiquitous Distraction
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: February 28, 2019 4:29 PM
DESC:
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BODY:
This morning, while riding the exercise bike, I read two items
within twenty minutes or so that formed a nice juxtaposition for
our age. First came
The Cost of Distraction,
an old blog post by L.M. Sacasas that reconsiders Kurt Vonnegut's
classic story, "Harrison Bergeron" (*). In the story, it is 2081,
and the Handicapper General of the United States ensures equality
across the land by offsetting any advantages any individual has
over the rest of the citizenry. In particular, those of
above-average intelligence are required to wear little earpieces
that periodically emit high-pitched sounds to obliterate any
thoughts in progress. The mentally- and physically-gifted Harrison
rebels, to an ugly end.
Soon after came Ian Bogost's
Apple's AirPods Are an Omen,
an article from last year that explores the cultural changes that are
likely to ensue as more and more people wear AirPods and their ilk.
("Apple's most successful products have always done far more than
just make money, even if they've raked in a lot of it....") AirPods
free the wearer in so many ways, but they also bind us to ubiquitous
distraction. Will we ever have a free moment to think deeply when
our phones and laptops now reside in our heads?
As Sacasas says near the end of his post,
In the world of 2081 imagined by Vonnegut, the distracting technology
is ruthlessly imposed by a government agency. We, however, have more
or less happily assimilated ourselves to a way of life that provides
us with regular and constant distraction. We have done so because we
tend to see our tools as enhancements.
Who needs a Handicapper General when we all walk down to the nearest
Apple Store or Best Buy and pop distraction devices into our own ears?
Don't get me wrong. I'm a computer scientist, and I love to program.
I also love the productivity my digital tools provide me, as well as
the pleasure and comfort they afford. I'm not opposed to AirBuds,
and I may be tempted to get a pair someday. But there's a reason I
don't carry a smart phone and that the only iPod I've ever owned is
1GB first-gen Shuffle. Downtime is valuable, too.
(*) By now, even occasional readers know that I'm a big Vonnegut fan
who wrote
a short eulogy
on the occasion of his death,
nearly named this blog
after one of his short stories, and returns to him frequently.
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