i suggest you look in the mirror
I hate people.
Well, no. Not all people. My relationship with the rest of humanity is a complex one.
Let me explain.
My parents and I went to see The Dark Knight Rises today. It's a fine movie and all; I actually quite liked it, except for the very end, which seemed too cheesy and forced for what had previously been such a dark and contemplative trilogy. But overall, it was a good piece. I even liked Anne Hathaway a great deal, which was much more than I had expected to like her (i.e., not at all). What was not so nice was the couple sitting behind us.
Here is my abbreviated list of their activities:
1. Arrive at the movie after it had already begun (not even during previews, I mean literally about ten minutes into the film itself)
2. Use the light of their cell phones to scope out empty seats (of which there were quite a few in the theater, and I really don't think the extra illumination was necessary in the slightest [although it certainly got me to notice them])
3. Immediately begin talking to one another (at an audible volume, too, not even "so low that only I could hear it with my extremely acute hearing")
My father quickly turned around and hissed a quick and poignant "Shhh!" which they appeared somewhat amused and befuddled by and proceeded to ignore. Not a minute later, I turned in my seat and said "Please stop talking." Their response (to one another, which I happened to overhear because, once again, they were not speaking softly) completely baffled me: "Well that was rude."
No. No no no. In fact, you suck.
Of course, this is not the first time I've been in a movie theater with inconsiderate other patrons. This is not even the first time I've asked someone to please keep it down. However, these people may be the most blatantly unaware of their own obnoxiousness, which is actually the thing that saddens me most.
Yes. "Saddens."
Now for the quantum leap of logical proportions.
I think the Internet is a wonderful tool. It is a fantastic source of knowledge and entertainment, and a great way of keeping in touch with friends and colleagues, especially those far away from oneself. Impressive technological leaps forward have enabled us to access this resource virtually anywhere at virtually anytime. I even think social networking has its place, regardless of my own distaste for it.
But.
I also think that the recent onslaught of personal devices our society has been exposed to (re: had thrust in our faces and made to seem requirements for maintaining an acceptable QOL) has made people so introverted and so painfully self-centered that it has had disastrous side effects. Psychologists and "tech gurus," as they're termed, are beginning to point this out, but I fear that such reports are dismissed as "doesn't apply to me" nonsense by many of the people most affected. Some acknowledge that they have a problem, to be sure, but not enough to make a difference in my life. (According to The Week, this "tech addiction" is almost exclusively an American problem, but hey, it still gets under my skin.)
In fact, I'll elaborate: I fear that this addiction is having an impact on people's lives even when they are not actively using the Internet, or whatever piece of technology they're addicted to. See, for instance, the couple talking behind me at the movies. Yes, yes, I know, people have been talking in movie theaters for ages, and people have been rude for ages, but this is simply an example on my mind at the moment, and the couple's "Well that was rude" reaction really emphasizes it for me. I think people with these tech addictions are actually becoming more rude in general. Even when not using their smartphones and such, they are rendered less able to judge the imposition of their actions on others and therefore more likely to act as though they are alone when in a public place; for instance, treating a movie theater as their own living room, or a public gym as their garage with a treadmill in it.
ETA: Studies have been conducted which demonstrate that tech addiction can rewire a person's brain to, among other things, reduce empathy, which supports the point I'm getting at. (I apologize for not having any studies to link to, but I have merely seen them referenced elsewhere, and unfortunately for this instance, not online.) Of course, these studies are subject to much criticism and skepticism, being fairly recent, but I remain horrified that the possibility is even coming up.
Humanity will be its own downfall, I swear.
Children text during dinner at their own homes. Couples out on dates accept personal calls while sitting across the table from one another in restaurants. Patrons of movie theaters, and even legitimate theaters, surf the Internet while a movie or performance which they have paid good money for the privilege to see is going on not but a few yards away.
Are people's attention spans really so short? Are their priorities really so skewed? Are they really so very, very desperate to feel plugged in to every detail of society's minutiae that they miss the potential personal connections surrounding them?
Let me conclude with this thought.
Do I think that every person who owns a smartphone or tablet is like this? No. Not necessarily. But I do think there is an enormous danger of the "this will only take a minute" phenomenon. That is, "I know it's rude to pull out my cell phone in public and check some information which I could obtain just as easily two hours from now, but I really want it this minute and I'll be quick, I promise, you won't even notice."
Yes. I will. Whatever it is, it can wait.
ETA: tl;dr Thanks for alerting me to this...comic thing, Becky! (Is totally a comic thing.)
