With great power, comes great responsibility.
As I write this on my shiny white MacBook my iPhone next to me alerting me of a text message, and a news update, and to tell me that my mother has just won in Words With Friends I realize that I am wholly dependent on technology. Wow, groundbreaking right? Another twenty-something girl talking about how her iPhone is her baby (insert annoying laugh to cover up the fear that she will never in fact procreate). However, here is the thing that no one tells you. The very thing that makes technology so great is the very reason I resent it- you can be connected to anyone.
Again, this doesn’t seem groundbreaking. But I don’t mean this in the “OhEmGeeIfIAteAGoodMealAndDidntInstagramItHowWillEveryoneKnowImASkinnyFoodie?” way. I mean the in the “technology can solve any problem except our own stupidity way”. Believe it or not, there are problems Siri can’t solve. Don’t tell her I said that, she knows too much.
Fear. Pride. Idiocy. These are problems that have plagued humanity and the gods alike since the beginning of time. We look upon Romeo and Juliet with pity but they simply had an unreliable mail service and a too efficient apothecary. Anyone who has ever been to Duane Reade knows THAT is no longer a problem. It wasn’t their lack of love or courage, it wasn’t hubris that made them star-crossed. Or maybe it was and they just had a really good publicist. The point is, all of their problems can be blamed upon an inability to communicate.
We don’t have that anymore. In a time where we can see a person half a world a way through a phone screen, we need only press a button. But we don’t. We let fear and pride and idiocy make difficult that which technology makes easy.
The point is, I hate technology. It allows me to say everything but doesn’t give me the courage to say anything. So until there is an App for that, I’m going to consider technology bittersweet.
On the other end of things, Juliet didn’t have to worry about drunk dialing after too many flagons of wine. God that bitch had it easy.
Accessibly yours (if only you wish it),
The Wandering Aesthete




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