iMiss conversation.

I do embrace a lot of technology for without it our aspects of work and life would be very different, I’m an engineers daughter after all. But I don’t believe it has always moved us forward in a positive way.  I’m not a downloader and that’s not because I disagree with it, it’s because I like the experience of buying an album.  The trip to the shops to search for that CD I read about means I get to leave the house, browse all the other CD’s in the shop and then have that eagerly anticipated wait until I get home to listen to the CD.  Once home, I’ll scan the sleeve for its artwork, read the lyrics with a cup of tea and place the CD proudly on the shelf with all the others.  Yes, downloading is often cheaper and faster but I don’t need everything in my life to be faster.

The abundance of social networking sites usually means there is not a person in the world you now can’t get hold of, everything and everyone is attainable which can leave some of us with a lesser appreciation.  I don’t have an ipod, I think they’re a great idea but I can’t afford one.  I recently read this great article with members of The Dead Weather; “I’ve gone on lunches with people that haven’t looked up from their iPhones, you feel like you’re having lunch on your own’” says Alison Mosshart.  I can totally sympathise, I know several folk with iphones who do exactly the same to me.  Perhaps I don’t want everything answered for me, maybe you could spare me the courtesy of a conversation with your face and not your head in a screen?

‘O, pray tell, what did we do before Googlemaps?’  Well, we asked an actual person for directions or we read a map. ‘But it’s much faster and quicker this way’.  So what, why the  incessent need to be quicker and faster? An article in The Observer, December 2006, exposes the ‘exhaustion epidemic’ and as Louise Carpenter writes; – “We’re all run ragged by what social commentators refer to as ‘the breakneck pace of life’, or the 24/7 society that never sleeps”.  Louise discovered research pointing out that we now have an inability to switch off.  We live by unnatural standards – setting an alarm to go off before the sun comes up, arriving to work to sit before a screen all day underneath artificial lighting, deadlines to manage and a boss to deal with if they’re not met, rushing to get the train home, battling commuting soldiers who are fighting for their own life and nobody elses, getting home in the dark, tossing and turning in our sleep before the alarm goes off again.

The stress of our lives can make us lose all meaning of the world and the people we share it with.  Facebookin’, twitterin’, bloggin’ – this is not interacting with people, it can be fun but it’s not really the same as an interesting debate with friends over some cheap plonk and a cheeseboard.  Going back to The Dead Weather, Jack Lawrence adds; – “It’s only a matter of time before the world gets sick of reading some shithead’s comments on a messageboard”.  My own blog included.  Am pretty sure I accidentally called myself a shithead here.

In this same Dead Weather article, Jack White says; – “I want to be part of the resurgence of things that are tangible, beautiful and soulful, rather than just give in to the digital age, but when I talk to people about this they just say, ‘Yeah, I know what you mean,’ and stare at their mobiles. The general vibe I get is: ‘Quit being a drag. We’re progressing here.’”  The band goes on to agree that there is nothing more offputting than playing a concert before a sea of mobile phones. I include the iphone in this.  Put your iphones down, go for a walk, get an allotment, read a book, pick up that guitar, rearrange your furniture. I agree with Will Self when he once said that ‘when the world has ended and civilization has been destroyed, somewhere there will still be a little mobile phone with a sad little ringtone going off’.  I’d like to second there will still be re-runs of Friends somewhere too.

Jack White is one of the few musicians to still record albums on analogue tape.  I respect and admire this because I also love vintage equipment.  I love my record player and my vinyl,  I still own a cassette player, I like writing hand-written letters and sending them by post.  I don’t have a Facebook because I don’t see the need, I can see benefits to it in terms of catching up with old friends but I don’t like how Facebook had to replace something.  I enjoyed using MySpace and still do but only musicians and bands use it now.    It’s like a popularity club which reminds me of school and I hated school.  I don’t want to be persecuted for deleting someone off my Facebook if I feel like it, why does that have to be the modern-day equivelent of a stab in the hand?  So it’s easier and best if I just don’t have one.  The new kid in class is Twitter, I tried having a personal Twitter account but I discovered that I don’t really have much to report.  It made me ponder who actually has the time to report every single bowel movement and what brand of pickle I had on my sandwich that day?

I do think these sites have their appeal.  It’s fun to read Nick Frost’s tweets when bored on your lunch-hour at work.  But reading ALL the pages of tweets? I consider that time wasting I’m afraid.  I used to suffer very badly from anxiety and panic attacks, I had to give up work.  I tried to throw all my time and efforts into my writing and working on my laptop from home but I found out something; it is not healthy to stay tied to a laptop or anything digital/electronic.  I am not a replicant.  You need to go outside and talk to people, you need to get fresh air and feel the sun on your face, we need to interact with others.  We must contribute to society in order to feel part of it.

I kept a simple quote from groan, yes, a self-help book and it read – ‘to face the world is a far safer option in the end’.  So I started, step by step, to get better and now I never spend too long on my laptop.  Apart from to write this blog.

This piece is less of a rant and more about sharing principles and values once forgotten.  Instead of the Facebook invite, why not ring up that person to invite them?  Instead of the download, why not go out and find a vintage record shop?  It doesn’t have to be faster and quicker, it can take its time.  We can take our time.  Let’s celebrate some of the ways we used to be and the ideals we used to have as sometimes, learning from the past can make you move forward in a much more positive way.

By Jo Overfield

Sundown presents “iMiss conversation”, a night celebrating our vintage loves and ideals so bring cassette tapes, vinyl, second-hand clothes for our Swish and unwanted books for our Swook, – Feb 28th @ The Alex, Southend www.myspace.com/sundownmultimedia

With thanks to Will Hodgkinson and  Louise Carpenter.