the effect of the automobile and age on conceptions of time and space
Automotive travel has shrunk my perceptions of time and distance. My patience is expanded and I can endure what once felt like mortal torture. The internet allows me to experience and know in summary form, vast amounts of information. The intimate, intricate world of sidewalk pebbles, ants and flowers wizz by my consciousness unnoticed. I am disconnected from on-the-ground living through my connections with machines. I am living the life virtual and sometimes when I think back on my life as a child it makes me feel old.
Today I rode a bike and remembered when I was younger. I tried to remember what it was like to move about the neighbor hood. Back then I had more of an eye for the here and now. I noticed the small details, the changes in the houses, cars and lawns of neighbors, the decay of the roadwork the cracks in the sidewalks, the rises in the earth that could act as bike ramps. The sings of other adventurers like me, roaming around looking for fun. Today when I rode I kept thinking about destinations, events, people and responsibilities.
I had to exert myself to re-enter the landscape I had grown up steeped in. I had to focus with earnest effort to soak in the suburban neighborhood's myriad of minute tells of human activity that compose the unwritten history of a place. I didn't see anyone today under 30 or over 10. Is everyone inside doing home work (it is sunday)?
The world of the nighborhood kid is magical in its way, the weird communication, meeting strange kids on back courts and racing home to get your skates for a pickup hockey game. Talking about video games and dreaming abut the future. Scary dogs. Secret paths and warm sun. Facts are fuzzy and weird rumors circle about whats just beyond the borders of the neighborhood, hidden in a back woods lake. That creepy old farm building... Who built the huge forts in the woods? How did they get the couch in the tree? And who later tore it down?
Don't get me wrong~ I do not pine for the old days. Ive got bigger dreams to chase and places to explore. I just often wonder if the new generations coming up will be able to slow down and enjoy living life among the smaller elements. Specifically I worry that cellar and domestic tracking technology combined with over active parenting will kill the secret, wondrous world of suburban adventurers.
Today I rode a bike and remembered when I was younger. I tried to remember what it was like to move about the neighbor hood. Back then I had more of an eye for the here and now. I noticed the small details, the changes in the houses, cars and lawns of neighbors, the decay of the roadwork the cracks in the sidewalks, the rises in the earth that could act as bike ramps. The sings of other adventurers like me, roaming around looking for fun. Today when I rode I kept thinking about destinations, events, people and responsibilities.
I had to exert myself to re-enter the landscape I had grown up steeped in. I had to focus with earnest effort to soak in the suburban neighborhood's myriad of minute tells of human activity that compose the unwritten history of a place. I didn't see anyone today under 30 or over 10. Is everyone inside doing home work (it is sunday)?
The world of the nighborhood kid is magical in its way, the weird communication, meeting strange kids on back courts and racing home to get your skates for a pickup hockey game. Talking about video games and dreaming abut the future. Scary dogs. Secret paths and warm sun. Facts are fuzzy and weird rumors circle about whats just beyond the borders of the neighborhood, hidden in a back woods lake. That creepy old farm building... Who built the huge forts in the woods? How did they get the couch in the tree? And who later tore it down?
Don't get me wrong~ I do not pine for the old days. Ive got bigger dreams to chase and places to explore. I just often wonder if the new generations coming up will be able to slow down and enjoy living life among the smaller elements. Specifically I worry that cellar and domestic tracking technology combined with over active parenting will kill the secret, wondrous world of suburban adventurers.