Close to two years after his death, I still see Steve Jobs being hailed as our generation’s DaVinci. To compare the two is utterly absurd to me. I don’t want to live in a world where technology replaces art and music as creative expression. Technology is what allows us to express creativity. It is the paint, the pencil, the guitar. It is a tool and a tool only. It cannot ever fully replace the soul that goes into true creation—autotune has taught us what happens to people who substitute technology for talent.
With our phones and our laptops and our GPS navigation, we’ve eliminated the element of surprise. We can’t get lost anymore (okay, unless you use Apple maps, and then anything can happen). Do you remember intending to go to one restaurant but finding another on the way that had the best enchiladas you’ve ever had and the lecherous waiter with a harelip? Do you remember when you had to experience things for yourself and learn the hard way? Do you remember having STORIES because you sometimes experienced the unexpected, both good and bad?
That’s what I object to, and it’s not even really about Steve Jobs. It’s about the fact that we’re becoming a society that has grown so dependent on technology that we have forgotten how to function without it. We’ve become a generation that can’t read a map, spell anything properly, do math, or even carry a conversation with a stranger.
Jobs and the people who work for him made the world come alive at our fingertips. My friend Jeff remarked that he made it so we don’t have to go see the Mona Lisa in Paris, that we can see it at home. We don’t have to go to the library for information.
But I want to go to Paris. And I like the library.
I adore my cell phone and my laptop and my iPod. I’m not some kind of Luddite. I love gadgets, believe me. My very job depends on technology, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I just remember when my life wasn’t ruled by a cell phone. I don’t want to forget how to live an unconnected life. I don’t want to give up my artifacts. I like my photo albums and my books and my notebooks full of quotes and ramblings. I mistrust the fact that in our insatiable need to manage every aspect of our existence, we’ve made ourselves a slave to a master we didn’t make and can’t control.
I’m just a writer, not a techie, as is undoubtedly apparent. I’m not unaware of the irony of my complaining about technology as I post on a blog and spread my words via social media. I just sometimes find myself frustrated at the double edged sword of technology. I feel sorry that kids nowadays are socially stunted because they never lived in a world where you could only talk to people face to face. Where you couldn’t hide behind a computer and you had to learn to make inane small talk or perish. Where if you wanted to bully someone, you had to have the stones to do it to their faces, not hiding behind a computer screen.
Metaphorically technology has made our world enormous. We have everything available to us that we could possibly want. But instead of opening up new possibilities, we’ve perverted technology into narrowing our experiences. Instead of taking a walk, we rely on screen savers to show us natural beauty. Instead of having to take someone out to dinner and awkwardly make small talk, we expect potential dates to answer 200 questions before we’ll even email them. Louis CK said it best: “Everything is amazing, but no one is happy.” It’s never enough and it never will be.
Is there an app for that?
