Do I Want to Become Digital?

No one day dreams any more. Constantly wired, people move from place to place connected to their iPods, drive talking on their cell phones, and eat dinner in front of the television. Society is suffering from a ceaseless flow of media brought about by the “ubiquitous computing” in this process of becoming digital. The constant inculcation of mass-produced sounds and images is making original thought increasingly rare. While the ease of access to information brought about by media such as the internet is a great asset to our society, continuous connectivity does not come without a price. As people succumb to the glitz of the new toys provided by the innovation of this new media age, creativity and individuality—the drivers of our society—become secondary priorities.

It is frighteningly easy to become lost in the wide world of media. While an over indulgence in media is nothing new—America’s obsession with the television in the 1950s is an early example—the power of the internet has captured the world in ways no medium has before. In becoming digital, our society has given up its right to form its own opinions. We are spoon fed the news, entertainment, research, and conversation. People venture into the real world less frequently because the reality the internet provides is more convenient and the wealth of information and useless garbage the web provides is hypnotizing. Many members of society spend all of their time surfing the web, contributing to the world only through commenting on topics of interest and in niche groups. As a result, Americans are more disconnected from each other and themselves than ever before.

Creativity, inspiration, and innovation only arise in societies where people work to foster them. Irrigation was not invented by some kid playing on the internet but rather as a result of necessity. If our society moves its focus away from the real world and onto the internet then only inventions involving media will be required. How many more people will work to make the iPod smaller rather than strategize to quell the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the world? As the culture becomes increasingly wrapped up in the allure of the internet, it loses reality. Where is family history in a screen name? How does your relationship with your best friend change when you only communicate through email or pixilated images on iChat? Certainly, the palpability of interaction is diluted in this 2-D world.

As media becomes more and more pervasive, the opportunity for individual thought, a defining human characteristic, diminishes. If our actions define us, we are a society of 0s and 1s. Everything we do can be reduced to a series of switches that are either on or off. By becoming digital, we have quantized humanity. Today you are either a 1 or a 0. There is no middle ground, no beautiful world of grey. What if I don’t want to be a 1 or a 0 but rather ebullient or yellow? This sacrifice seems like quite a price to pay for convenience of information.