A couple sits at a dinner table but they are playing Words With Friends on their iPhones - with each other nonetheless. A member of the audience in a US cinema is text messaging his friend in Singapore about a movie that hasn’t been released there yet. A boy in front of his computer has one conversation taking place on Facebook, another on MSN and yet another in Google Chat.
What has meant to connect us has seemingly disconnected us more than ever before. I guess it’s arguable. And there is a certain convenience to how connected we’ve become. Yet I’ve personally hit a point where there are too many things competing for my attention because of this convenience, so much so that I have very few moments left in a day which actually have my undivided attention. I suspect I’m probably not the only one.
If I might venture to add, this has translated into a new acceptable behaviour of sorts; where it’s okay to make your friend wait while you finish off a text message; where you can juggle so many conversations, it’s not expected of you to reply right away or even on the same day anymore; where strangers in a virtual chat can ignore your friendliest hello without consequence or their own conscience nagging at them.
As the lines between real and virtual blur, there are choices to be made if we want a firmer grip on what it really means to connect.
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