Technology Hypnosis

 “BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!”

What is that sound? Where am I? What’s going on?

“BEEP BEEP BEEP!”

There it is again! What in God’s name is that sound?

“BEEP BEEP BEEP!” It is relentless. It is piercing. It is brash.  The sound punctures through my unconscious sleep haze like a sharp knife slicing through butter over and over again until finally, I jolt into reality.

My alarm, perhaps the most dreaded sound in the world, is going off near my head. Nails screeching against a chalkboard would be more welcomed at this point. Yet it keeps beeping and I unfortunately must force myself to get up.

“Where am I? What time is it? How did I get here? Why is this alarming going off?” All the daily routine of questions I ask myself every morning before my body finally comes into full consciousness. But alas, I’m awake and I begin to recognize my surroundings. What day is it? Tuesday. What time is it? 7:30 am. Where am I? My bed. Is this home? No, it’s my dorm. How do I feel? Angry. Or is it tired? Or is it a combination of both simply because I have to be awake. Upon sitting up, I turn off my phone (I always sleep with it right next to my head) and before I even wipe the sleep out o my eyes, I reach under my bed for my laptop. I haven’t even been awake for 60 seconds and I am already plugged in.

Lying under my bed, my computer sits like a spider. Silent and still, it’s perched near by never make a sound. And what am I? I am the helpless insect, buzzing freely about my day until I suddenly find myself unexpectedly trapped in the spider’s sticky home. At first, I buzz around frantically trying to get free, thinking there must be some way out. But soon I realize the web is too strong and I slowly give up the fight. I surrender, and I am at the will of the spider. The computer with all its magic and lights sucks me into its web and there is no looking back.

It might be an understatement to say I have an addiction to technology. Everywhere I go, at all times, 24/7 I am plugged in. Whether it’s the headphone connected to my ears, the cell phone that’s always at my side, or the computer that rests in my lap, I am never without it. These forms of technology have become my best friends, my constant source of communication, and my means to everything. So much so that at 7:30 am, before I can even attempt to think about the grueling day ahead of me or even process my surroundings, I am already logged on to my e-mail.

“Did anyone message me? Did anyone like my posts on facebook? Did I get a response to any of the job applications I sent out? Where any of my photos re-blogged on tumblr?” These are all typical thoughts while scrolling through my inbox in the morning. Only until after these questions are answered can I begin start my day.

Everyday my computer takes up copious amounts of my time. A day without my computer would be like a day without food. I need it for my vitality. It sustains me. Just thinking about the days before computers were invented sends chills up and down my spine. How could that be? How did anyone survive? What was life like before e-mails, before tumblrs, before skype, before facebook, before spell check? This 15-inch rectangle has changed the world and its really only been around for the last 15 years. Well, at least it’s changed my word. Or has it? I actually don’t even remember a world before computers. They are so much apart of my everyday that life without them would seem… odd. This is the 21^st century. This is my life. This is my everyday. This is all I know.

When did this happen? When did most of my day become looking at a computer screen and getting bewitched my the magic of its luminous being? As a young female in the 21^st century, I’m told I live in the “technology generation,” but what does that even mean? I find myself asking these questions, but do I really care about the answer? Perec states it best when he writes in his essay Approaches to What?, “To question the habitual. But that’s just it, were habituated to it. We don’t question it, it doesn’t question us” (210). The truth is, I don’t actually care about the answers to the questions or even care if I am addicted to technology. The point is, this is how it is and this is how it needs to stay.  It’s all I know.

Are they telling me there was a generation before technology? There was a generation before cell phones, before computers, before Internet? How did people get around? How could they get from point A to point B without GPS? How did people wake up in the morning without their phone alarms, let alone know the time? How, did people keep up with current events? How, how, how? Literally within a minute of waking up, I’ve already worked my way through two technological devices and you mean to tell me there was time when none of this existed? I know I sound like a naïve 20 something, but there is a real sincerity to my questions. This technology has become so much apart of my everyday life that it is hard to even fathom a time without it. How did I get this way? Is everyone like me? Are they in an “involved relationship” with their phones and computers too? Or do I just have a problem?

My cell phone, for example, is my everything. It is my sole means of communication, it is my clock, it is my alarm, it is my calendar, and it is my camera. Without it, I am lost—literally (it is my GPS as well). Upon realizing that I may have left my phone at home or left it sitting on a subway seat somewhere in Manhattan, my heart began to palpitate and my whole body tenses up with anxiety. My phone is my everything. And that alone frightens me.  How did I become so attached to this inanimate, blinking rectangle? How does a piece of plastic make me feel more things than most alive human beings can?

                                    *                                    *                                    *

A typical day with my cell phone can go something like this.

“DING DING!” goes my blackberry. Quickly I grab the device, excited from the possibilities of what I might find blinking beneath the smooth screen of my phone. That sound means I have BBM. Or is it an e-mail? No definitely a BBM. Quickly and instinctually my fingers glide over the sleek black keypad relying on an unconscious muscle memory that I have built up due to my repetitive use.

“WYD?” reads the message. Disappointment.  I hate those stupid text messages when people don’t actually say anything. Ugh, it’s just Blake. I have now lost all interest in the text and continue back to what I was doing before. And it wasn’t from Him, so I don’t respond.

“DING DONG!” goes my blackberry. That sounds means I got an SMS. Well this could be promising. He always sends me messages in SMS. Once again, my fingers grab for my phone before I even have time to process my actions.

“Hi beautiful,” reads the message. My heart skips a beat. It was from Him. An overwhelming feeling of happiness consumes me and I am in bliss for 2.3 seconds until I hear a “DA-DING” of another message. I quickly loose focus on what I had just been so excited about and I wonder, “Whom that could be from…”

Its all about the little things.

Even Elmer's is important.

Trust Me, It's Important

 Lets face it; everyone has those days where a whole lot of nothing happens. Nothing gets accomplished, the snooze button is hit multiple times, you barley leave the bed (let alone get dressed), the television is never turned off, and the pizza delivery boy makes constant appearances at your front door. Now for a country that prides itself on hard work, hearing about these types of days makes many people squirm. “Ohh, what a waste!” we all think, “So much we could have done!” However, the real issue here isn’t “wasting a day,” but rather that people feel a day can be wasted at all! It is a concept that many find hard to understand, but we have to realize that days such as the previous described are necessary and vital in every single persons life. Much may not happen or get accomplished but days like this still play a vital role in the story of your life. One must realize that even though a day may not consist of much action, a day still existed.

What makes and event or a day spectacular, extraordinary, or amazing? It’s no debate that when something special or out of the ordinary happens it is celebrated. But imagine if something spectacular happens everyday of the year or if something terrible or exciting were commonplace. Would it still be special? The fact is, without the ordinary there is no extraordinary. Without the simple, there is no complicated. Without the boring there is no exciting. Without ordinary, we have nothing to compare extraordinary to. People choose to brush off the everyday events of our lives without giving them second thought, but in reality they are more telling and vital than anything else. Our lives consist of ordinary, and that’s ok! Ordinary keeps us going, keeps us alive, and keeps us thriving.

Everything that happens during our day, during our week, during our life is of great importance because everything and anything we do affects our lives in one way or the other, whether it be immediate or somewhere later down the line. No matter how miniscule the action might be, it is important and necessary in our life and being. Think of it this way, the position in which you slept last night may not seem very significant upon first thought, but in reality it can affect you in ways you may never think of. For example, perhaps last night you slept on you neck oddly and when you awoke in the morning you are in a significant amount pain, enough so to make a trip down to the local convenient store. While you are waiting in the checkout line, browsing through the magazines, you happen to bump into an old friend whom you haven’t seen in years. Because of this, you decide to have lunch together and you end up catch up for hours. Now think if you had slept in a different position the previous night. Running into your friend would have never happened and you would have missed out on catching up. In other words, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Yes, Newton’s law applies not only to physics but to life as well.

The actions of our lives cause chain reactions, affecting everything and anything from that point on. So you see, nothing you can do is unimportant. From the words you utter, to the books you read, from the juice you drink, the perfume you use— it all matters. Everything in your life has significance, whether big or small. And admittedly, some things are obviously more important than others and some events might make a bigger impact on your life, but nothing is irrelevant. Everything and anything that we do during the day plays a part in the greater aspects of our lives and it is important to not disregard that. To many, our day-to-day lives may seem like nothing, but without it we are nothing.

So with this in mind, take solace in the little things. Be appreciative, notice your day-by-day habits, notice the people on the streets, the graffiti on the walls, the gum stuck under your table. Question the ordinary and appreciate all it has to offer, because the “ordinary” tells more about your life than anything else possibly could. Freak accidents or fantastical events might make great headlines, but they don’t truly represent your life and your being. So remember to not over look the “little things.” What are your habits, what are you accustomed to, what are your quirks and your idiosyncrasies? If you can explore these questions you might be surprised at all you can learn about yourself and the world you live in.

The Space

Even as I write this blog entry, it is unique in its own right because it is a different type of writing. I am writing for an audience. I am writing for technically anyone to see. I am no longer just writing for my teacher, or myself but I have to now consider how my words sound to my classmates, my friends, my family, or whoever may want to read this. Because after all, once it is catalogued in the mysterious inter-webs of the World Wide Web— it is in there forever. It is so different from writing, pen or pencil in hand on a tangible sheet of paper, and so different than writing personal reflections in a journal.

                                                I want to sound personal, but not too personal.

                                                                                                                   I think.

Yet at the same time, it’s not different at all. Essentially, whatever I think or want to say I can still write it down. Just now, writing turns into typing. And thoughts can turn into website links or pictures.

The space of the blog is unlimited. I can post and post and post away to my hearts content and there will still be room for more. Is that not baffling? It is a virtual archive that will always be there for me to reference, always in my grasp yet I can never actually touch it.

However in the blink of an eye and the click of a button I can permanently erase every word I have ever written.

An Overview of "Approaches to What?"

In Georges Perec's "Approaches to What?" essay, Perec questions the importance that human beings place on extraordinary and uncommon circumstances in everyday life, as opposed the ordinary circumstances that affect us daily. Throughout the essay Perec makes a strong argument about how too much focus, whether it be from the television, newspapers, or magazines, is purely based on uncommon and unusual events that in fact don’t have much affect on how our everyday lives are lived. Only if something spectacular happens does it make headlines, states Perec , but he goes on to argue that the habitual and commonplace should be just as important, if not more, than these spectacular headlines. His essay explores the idea that the trivial and futile are extremely essential to our lives and writes how many people have forgotten this. 

“What is the true scandal”, questions the author.  Perec explains that true scandal is not what is read in the newspaper headlines, it is not the freak accidents reported on t.v., nor the natural disasters that strike some far off land.  On the contrary, the “true scandal” is that there is no documentation on the everyday life that leads to these events. If anything, states the author, these scandals only tell us not to worry, “as you can see life exists, with its ups and its downs.” Perec argues that rather what we need to question is the habitual.  Only through documenting such things as the small and trivial can all other questions in which we have tried in vain to answer can be solved.

So next time, “question your teaspoon,” states the author. Wonder at the ordinary, dig deeper into your everyday way of life and ask yourself “where is our life, where is our body, and where is our space.” These simple, unexplored questions might surprise you with the complexity of the answer.

The Everyday

I blog. Therefore I am.

Well, as of today I blog.

What does that even mean? It’s not even a word. Webster hasn’t put it in its lexicon yet.  <----- To blog or not to blog, 

that 

         is 

                the 

                      question?

W     come so quickly

O      now that I don’t need a pen and a pad.

R      No limitations.

D     Just as long as my fingers can press the black keys.

S

There are no blue straight lines or three repeating holes           to tell me where to write and when to stop. I can just keep going………………………..

…………………….. and going

I think to myself, I’m saving trees. Yet all the while my fingers crave for the firm grasp of a pen and the indelible marks they will produce.

                                                            …….. and going

Is it still

Consider

ed writing if it’

s not ta

ngible?

 Blogs are kind of rude when you think about it. What makes you think I want to read about your thoughts, your opinions, you trials and tribulations? What makes you think they are so interesting that I MUST read them? Huh? What makes you think I want to see EVERY picture you memory card holds? Huh? Huh? Maybe we have something better to do with our lives than to look at yours.  You’re not special. You’re just ordinary. You’re just you…

EUREKA! I got it. That's just it. It's not important. EXACTLY. Everyday is just that, everyday. My everyday is not your everyday, but regardless everyday is just that- everyday. Its run-of-the-mill and with out the everyday normality, we wouldn't have that one special day at all.  Everyday is necessary in order to have the sensational. The ordinary is just as important as the extraordinary, the boring is just as important and the fun, and the lame is just as important as the spectacular. Without the usual, the unusual wouldn’t even exist. The balance is more important then we even realize.

Perhaps these people writing these everyday blogs are more important than anyone else writing about the news, current events, or celebrity whereabouts. Maybe they deserve the awards for just being and documenting, rather than another English professor with a degree from an ivy league.