The Last Day & Sam as a Berry Wannabe

So today was the last day here at Notre Dame. I took my French exam, which went well, and then went to mass at the Basilica. I also ate lunch at Greenfield's as a celebration. Then I kept on packing.

I've been thinking recently about how technology inhibits us (or at least me) from real life. Examples:

• Addictions to various web sites (fbook, YouTube) or services (AIM). How much time have I spent online that I could have been spending doing something real? I don't mean your average half hour of fbook or AIM time...I'm talking hours and hours a day out of "boredom" (as if there's not always something better to do).

• The frustrations that come with computer mediated communication (this phrase trademarked by masantos). How many times have I had ridiculous misunderstandings due to the lack of the ability to communicate emotion via computer?

• Preoccupation with taking photos instead of just experiencing things. I often wonder how this sort of "phototourism" has affected our memories. Every time I take a photo now I have to wonder whether it's better to be experiencing this memory through the lens of a camera or through my own eyes (irony: I will always experience things through a lens of some kind). This phenomenon decreases the longer I stay in a place. For example, I spent much of the first two days at ND taking pictures, and then I stopped for the remainder of my time here. That way I got photos and memories, instead of one or the other. By the third trip to Chicago, I didn't need to keep taking photos of downtown.

• Preoccupation with sharing and storing photos that leads to hours of tagging, cropping, editing, organizing, and captioning. I'm getting fed up with this one. The more photos I take, the more mind-bogglingly time consuming it is becoming to make sure I can find any photo instantly, share it with the rest of the world (complete with a short description of the events depicted), and make sure the lighting and coloring is just right.

• Obsession with acquiring music via computer. MP3s/MP4s/etc. are dirt cheap compared to buying CDs or vinyl now. Monthly subscription services like eMusic, stores like iTunes, and various other sites can cause me to spend hours and hours acquiring new music. What I fail to realize is that I then must listen to said music. In the past 6 months, I've legally acquired about 3 days' worth of music -- that's 72 hours! Can you imagine me listening to music for three days straight?

• This then fuels the iPod addiction. I purposefully left my iPod at home when I went to Chicago last weekend, and I had some very interesting experiences. I left it precisely because I noticed my fear of boredom. So for all of last weekend, I rode trains and busses and walked for miles without any musical stimulation. Guess what happened? I talked to strangers. I noticed the sounds of the city. I thought. I prayed more than I had in months.

• The fact that I have to constantly keep track of these things. In addition to having to worry that my PowerBook is safely locked inside of my room, I have to make sure that my camera (and its memory cards), my cell phone (and its charger), and my iPod (with its various accessories) are all safe and secure. Since I've inherited my dad's borderline obsession with making sure things are secure, I check my pockets and backpack at least 30 times a day to make sure things are in place. I laugh about this a lot, and I've been making steps of progress to change this. When I was in Chicago, something quite humorous happened that will forever impact this quirk of mine. I had my hand in my pocket making sure my train ticket hadn't magically leapt out, when I tripped on the curb (this was somewhere near Randolph St.) and almost fell headlong. Due to the fact that my hand was on my ticket, it flew out of my pocket and onto the street. The irony was beautiful.

• The discouraging wealth of information online that causes me to be constantly discontent with my education. Let's face it: Wikipedia and Google have pretty much revolutionized the world (to the point that I don't even have to link them). If you didn't know, Blogger is owned by Google. However, constant access to any body of knowledge I could desire is deadly when combined with what Charlie and I have deemed my "consuming obsession with constant self-improvement." I often wonder what my life would be like if I didn't know that at the click of a button I could have all of China's history in front me. This subject becomes especially frustrating given my reading comprehension from a computer screen is dismal compared to reading print. I thought Podcasts would change this for me, but I currently have 5.7 days' worth of Podcasts on my computer.

The moral of the story: technology is a market. It's built off of discontentment. You'll never share or see enough pictures. You'll never hear the newest music. You'll never read enough on a subject. You'll never have the latest and greatest. You'll never be efficient enough. You'll never be connected enough to your friends or to strangers. You'll never learn enough. You'll never be informed enough.

That's just a sampling. I could go on for hours. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of technology and the wonders of computers. I love the fact that I'm now in touch with friends from elementary school. I love that I can see pictures of my friends in everywhere from Greece to China at the click of a button. I love being able to blog so everyone can keep up with my life, and I love being able to read other peoples' blogs to keep up with their lives. I love how technology has revolutionized music composition (for the most part). I love free sermons and lectures.

But what happened to the days of mistakes in music, of knowing that you may never hear some music again after a concert, of knowing you may never see a place again except in your memories? What happened to just sitting in silence for a train ride? What happened to listening to the same 10 records over and over again?

That's my two electronic cents.

What sparked this post was the fact that I have attempted to upload more pictures for non-fbook people. It was quite a frustrating experience. They aren't tagged or captioned, and for some reason a lot of them got out of order. Oh well. Here they are:

Random Trip to Chicago
Journey to Lake Michigan
Pitchfork: Day One
Pitchfork: Day Two

Sometime soon I hope to post on what Brian Habig has deemed "the idol of the next fun thing on the horizon." I think he's onto something important for college students. My thoughts on that some time in the near future.

See you in Orlando.

Peace,
Sam