Time...

2008-03-09T07:45:00.000-07:00

Time

When I was a kid, not so long ago, a decade earlier, I would receive a message maybe a verbal or a written message that told me to call someone. It might have been earlier that afternoon or morning or the day before. The person that left that message whether it was friends or family would of expected a return on that message maybe within the next day. That would be a normal expectation.

This was the time before mobile phone signals, before WiFi and Internet and T9 text messages, and communication would be via pen, paper, a stamp and some legwork by blue uniformed government employees.

Let me digress, some folks had the luxury of sitting down at a computer or word processor and typing a letter because by the time I was “writing” letters no actually writing was taking place it was typing and printing and stuffing an envelope. So if you had a picture of a jar of ink, a plume and parchment you can erase that from your brains. I mentioned this was not too long ago. Who had time to write? The actual act of writing on my part took place in the early 90s while I was a young sailor in the Navy, fresh out of high school, out to sea. Today’s military members have E-mail, even out in the middle of the Atlantic.

The first printers that stream lined the communication process in the home, were about the size of modern day office copiers.

For the most part, the time I am talking about, there were phones, and there were stamps and the US postal service to carry those things to there designated destination. Trust me this was not so long ago. This was how it was done. Well let me touch on two other things, images and analogue pagers. Pictures were taken in cameras on rolls of film. These rolls would go out and as quickly as an hour they can be returned to you developed with choices of a matte or glossy paper finish. There was also the Polaroid, a camera that would, what was then “instantly” produce your pictures. In actuality it might take a minute or two of waving the thing, until it dried, but there it was. The end product was a developed picture. Analog pagers the other item was initially a thing of luxury. Doctors, special professions and busy drug dealers were the mainstay of these devices. It was about the size of today’s average mobile phone and would deliver a phone number, strictly numbers, no letters zero thru nine. That’s it. You would receive this message of numbers, on your pager screen. Yes people got creative and thought of codes for the urgency of there message 505 was an SOS, 9-1-1 was a please call back as soon as possible. Nonetheless, as soon as convenient you would find a phone, a pay phone in cases of emergencies and make that call.

It was the 80s and unbeknownst to the general public lurking, hidden on an experimental workbench in the bowels of a Motorola laboratory was the DynaTAC 8000X...

Fast forward to the present barely a handful of years have passed. Time has changed, time has past and patience is worn thin. Communication has gone guttural. The surge of text talk, IM acronyms Initialisms there called (Ie. Lol, ROTFL etc.) picture mail, everything is done within the minute even faster, the span of signal speed. Messages received via email, mobile phone, T9 text and the clock starts ticking. We reach a sensory overload of junk communication. Do you feel the apprehension of responding to those messages, family, friends, business, spam? We all have that mental tickler file of messages, phone calls, emails that need addressing. People, friends, family they want answers at the speed of the download. With Spam advertising, junk mail, robocalls, telemarketers have taken advertising and bill collecting to new levels. I myself counted one day as early as 2001 that I had between home and office personal mobile phones and Emails, seven different forms of communication. I was within reach 24 hours a day never far from any of them. In the years since it hasn’t gotten any better. Think about it, a phone in your home, a phone where you work, one phone at work specific to your desk, and one mobile on your hip or in your pocket, maybe another mobile phone for work, plus emails, snail mail.

I grew up with one telephone, with a cord attached to a wall, in an apartment in NY.

We now, not only can look to see who are kids are talking to, but “for there safety” the newest technology has the ability to track there movements of the mobile down to the street corner they play on. Don’t know where that is? You can jump online and Google to see a color panoramic satellite view of that very street to refresh your memory.

In the back of are brains we say, “this helps us, we’re more efficient this way”. The one thing that keeps us sane is that we can always think, “I just wont use it.” I can disconnect at anytime. I don’t need these many numbers, E-mails etc. At the rate of technology how long before the choice to disconnect is taken away from us? We give our bad judgment over to efficiency. Do we give mobile phones to our children, for safety reasons, so we know where they are? This way they can always call home. Isn’t it the sensible thing to do to have a mobile phone when you decide on that road trip alone? In case of trouble. How careless would you be to go abroad and not E-mail as soon as you got there. Who are we at work without our mobile phones and email addresses? Who are you to choose not to be connected? Not to have the means to communicate and be your most efficient self whether its at work or home family? The weakest links...

The Start

2008-02-23T14:48:00.000-08:00

2008

I am kicking off, albeit a bit late a place to ramble, bitch, complain, entertain and make the occasional keen observations. The goal is to incite conversation, individual thought and maybe even educate.

I expect a lot of rambling at first, sporadic bitching, and the occasional original idea that leaves room for debate, conversation and maybe some insight.

I don't know these are pretty lofty goals.

Let us just keep it short and see where this takes us.

Enjoy.

Check Your Weapon

Time...

The Start