Whether we like to admit it or not we have developed into a culture of immediacy. We expect things to happen at the snap of our fingers. When my iTunes does not load fast enough or my Blackberry takes too long to search something on the Internet I get impatient.
And then I took a trip to one of my friend’s aunt’s house and was brought face to face with my worst nightmare: dial up Internet. If you’ve ever seen ‘The Proposal’ the scene where Sandra Bullock’s character walks into a ‘Internet Café’ and is forced to switch from her fast paced life to the annoying beeping of dial up-this was pretty much what it felt like.
I think we all take our fast paced culture for granted. Thinking back (which makes me feel old) I remember when dial-up was the newest thing and my first laptop, which I believe weighed more than I did. In the past decade technology has advanced so much that I think we forget what it used to be like.
My boyfriend hates texting. If you’ve ever met me (I’m usually attached to my Blackberry returning e-mails, texting, event planning, etc.) you know that I have no patience for lack of communication. So, it has been a challenge for me to understand that not everyone loves technology as much as I do. I’m used to the world on my fingertips and I don’t know what to do without it.
After stepping back from the situation I realized that maybe, just maybe I could put the immediacy of my world down and just relax. So, I did a social experiment. I went a whole day without my phone. While in the beginning it was not the easiest thing in the end it turned out to be worthwhile. I realized that there is more to everyday life then updating my Twitter and firing off e-mails. Our culture tends to forget that.
72 text messages, 102 emails & 10 voicemails later I came to the conclusion I was not the only one addicted to our immediate culture.
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