Living at the speed of light ... or do we?

May 25, 2007

The advances in personal technology in the last five to 10 years is phenomenal: high definition digital TV, cell phones with text messaging (and now picture messaging), digital cameras that rival film, broadband access to the Internet, go everywhere digital telephone and television (think FIOS) and virtually every new automobile is powered and controlled by computers. At the same time, information available to us is growing exponentially. Even in real estate I am constantly bombarded with solicitations to buy the next new thing that will instantly notify me of changes in the marketplace: an infinite variety of email alerts, text alerts on my cell phone or a telephone alert from a digital voice.

Are we in overload? I suspect we are. I'd guess much of society's anxiety comes from the "give me more and give it to me faster" habit. I have become so addicted to instant information that I worry about the cell phone reception and Internet access when planning a vacation! I just can't get away from pausing pressing that "send/receive" button on Outlook. I don't know why. 90% of my incoming messages go to the JUNK folder. I even look through those to be sure I didn't miss anything. Here is an interest article about the INBOX REVOLT:

E-Mail Reply to All: 'Leave Me Alone'

By Mike Musgrove
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 25, 2007; Page A01

Last month, venture capitalist Fred Wilson drew a lot of attention on the Internet when he declared a 21st century kind of bankruptcy. In a posting on his blog about technology, Wilson announced he was giving up on responding to all the e-mail piled up in his inbox.

"I am so far behind on e-mail that I am declaring bankruptcy," he wrote. "If you've sent me an e-mail (and you aren't my wife, partner, or colleague), you might want to send it again. I am starting over."

College professors have done the same thing, and a Silicon Valley chief executive followed Wilson's example the next day. Last September, the recording artist Moby sent an e-mail to all the contacts in his inbox announcing that he was taking a break from e-mail for the rest of the year.

The rest of the story ...

Then there was this article from I found through The Morning News, one of my favorite on-line news sources:

Why I decided to pull the plug on email

Tom Hodgkinson
Wednesday March 7, 2007
The Guardian

I've given up email. Well, almost. At the weekend I set up one of those auto-reply messages, informing my correspondents that I would no longer be checking my emails, and that instead they might like to call or write, as we used to in the olden days.

Over the past few months, I had found myself becoming wedded to my computer in a worrying fashion. Deleting 200 spams a day is a drag. And I was checking my email constantly, rather than getting on with my real work, which is reading and writing. Email was becoming a distraction, a burden rather than a liberation. I also wondered whether some of my business might have been more quickly and enjoyably sorted out with one phone call rather than five emails.

The rest of the story ...

Interesting stuff. Then there is text messaging on the cell phone ... My friends generally text me when we get close to a weekend ... "hang out tonight?" I text them back ... "where?" ... and so on. I fumble so badly on a 10 digit keypad that it takes me 10 times longer to send the reply than just calling to have a quick discussion of where and when.

Instant messaging anyone? I became a big IM user when the twins went off to college. That first semester was a killer. But, that's what they did, how they communicated to their friends, so Pam and I took it up in a big way. Our silly way of wanting to maintain contact during "empty nest" withdrawal. There was something about that short, cryptic (I mean really cryptic, I had to learn IM language) message coming back that made us feel confident that they were still alive and kicking. After several weeks of worry about their welfare (more likely: what are you really doing at college?) it slowly dwindled. Pam and I started to really enjoy each other and OUR new found freedom from daily "kid dependency." I haven't logged in to IM for at least three years, maybe a bit longer, and I don't miss it.

My real estate clients are mixed when it comes to "how do I best communicate with you?" Some prefer the personal call while others prefer email. I have to say there are pros and cons to both. If it is urgent, make the call. If not, email it. The best thing about email is that I can keep a historical record of all the conversations. I am probably the worst at keeping a phone log.

OK, enough of that ... Let's get back to the question: Living at the speed of light ... or do we? Here's another excerpt from "Why I decided to pull the plug on email" that answers it for me:

We have to wonder whether digital technology, rather than making it easier to communicate, is actually doing the opposite. We now sit alone at a keyboard, firing off zeros and ones into the ether. Offices are silent. "Everybody's talking, but no one says a word," as Lennon had it.

I've often thought that the generation of my children were going to mature into social misfits preferring "text, IM and email" as the norm and not learning how to interact with people on a personal level. I guess those fears have subsided because they both created long lasting friendships from college. Maybe three-to-a-room dorms weren't such a bad thing after all.

We live at the speed of light until we venture out onto our highway system during commute hours. Then, we travel at the speed of a snail. By the way, or BTW, today is Friday before a holiday weekend. Our local highways will be jammed with traffic from about 2:00 this afternoon through late night. There will be anxiety, road rage and general discourtesy to each other by countless thousands going somewhere to have personal contact with families and friends. What causes this bad behavior? Addiction to speed.

I'm going to stay home this weekend and email all my friends and family. I might even do some cell phone texting. It will be less stressful.

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