T.M.I.

Too much information. We have so overloaded ourselves with information that we are completely unable to exist in the moment.

People have always had a desire for entertainment and escapism. This desire was probably first quenched with storytelling. Storytelling evolved into stage. Stage evolved into screen. The screen came into our homes and became the internet.

As forms of entertainment have evolved, so have forms of communication. The days of messengers traveling from village to village became the printed word, the radio and the telephone, and finally the cell phone, emails, blogs and text messages.

At face value, all of these modern forms of communication serve us invaluably and I’m not suggesting that we regress, but we need to take a serious look at whether all these new forms of communication are useful or whether they have begun to replace our real lives. We also need to understand that we are replacing entertainment with communication. They have become one and the same.

At a recent birthday dinner for my teenaged nephew, he stared wistfully up as he told me how much he’d like to have the latest cell phone with all the fabulous entertainment and communication possibilities at hand. I showed him my cell phone, and used my hands like one of the models on The Price Is Right as I explained how my cell phone both makes calls and receives calls! To say that my nephew was unimpressed is an understatement.

During a recent college math course, I was surrounded by classmates whose phones, set to “silent” mode, vibrated wildly while my professor tried desperately to explain a complicated formula to a completely distracted classroom. Everyone was too busy sending text messages to pay any attention.

During my last visit to The Magic Kingdom, Paul and I were sitting on a bench enjoying the atmosphere and doing some people-watching. A teenaged girl sat next to me and began sending text messages wildly. Her cell phone’s keyboard was undoubtedly overheated, but still she kept on. She was unable to look up even for a moment to take in her surroundings. My curiosity got the best of me. Respectfully I said, “Excuse me. Can you explain something to me? If what you have to say to the other person is terribly important, why don’t you just dial their phone number and speak to them, instead of sending all of these text messages back and forth?” She said, “Hmmm. I never thought about that. I don’t know.” Then her phone began to buzz and she was immediately engrossed in her next text message. She had no more time to talk to me.

I felt sorry for her. She was completely unable to appreciate her surroundings for fear of being unresponsive to what I’m sure what a less than meaningful text message. Some day, whoever she was visiting the park with will look back on that day and say, “Do you remember that day we spent at The Magic Kingdom?” To which she will have to reply, “Not really. Hold on, I’m getting a text.”

So, what’s the answer? For starters, try turning your cell phones and computers off one night per week. Invite a friend or neighbor over to your house on that night for a game or a bite to eat. Have a conversation with them. Remember conversations? They’re even faster than text messages. Also, when you and I are speaking face to face, please don’t hold up your “wait a minute finger” to answer your cell phone. I promise I won’t do it to you either. And lastly, don’t read my blog tomorrow. I know it’s good and all, but there might be something else more important going on right in front of you.