Technolitude(TM)

(My own "hybridiction" meaning: using electronic or techogadgets to sequester one's self from community, or to excuse one's self from engaging in meaningful social interaction.)

This phenomenon is everywhere. The first example I can think of is when my college roommate and I would sit in our shared dorm room back-to-back, chatting with one another using Instant Messenger. Anyone who has wasted a Monday night watching an episode of Nanny 911 (not me!) will see that video games now perilously serve as playmates. Television sets have ascended to the role of babysitters.

What is evident to me in the course of my daily commute is how people, who see each other day after day, are too busy receiving audio stimulation to acknowledge a familiar face, let alone interact through friendly conversation. We've closed ourselves off from the world and all of its organic noise and our white designer earbuds are the plugs. Leaving us alone with manufactured sounds and simulated emotions.

I am convinced that in several hundred years a universal symbol for antisocial behavior will develop (standard human figure - think bathroom man - with white lanyard lines sprouting from his head). It will be posted in all public places where vocal human interaction is prohibited. Only early twentieth century scholars will know that the symbol evolved from an old fashioned contraption called "the iPod."

This alarms me, and I think I'll take steps to reverse it - in my own life, at least. I think tomorrow I'll forget my iPod and try my morning ears wide-open. I will say "Good morning" to the bus driver in lieu of my typical "Don't bother me, I'm listening to Christina Aguilera's new song" nod. I'll smile at my fellow metro riders. I'll might even say "hello" to the tall freckled fellow on the blue line who steals glances. I'll begin my day with internal quiet and enjoy the crash and clamor of the external and all its boisterous inhabitants.