8 Jun 2012

Is faster better? Is more better?

There is an old saying in England that goes like this; "more haste, less speed". I think that we all experience the inevitable truth of this when tying our shoelaces, for instance. We rush into something through pressure or stress of whatever origin, and we find to our dismay that we do not accomplish that particular task as well as if we had taken things calmly and slowly.

I think there is perhaps an analogy to be made between this kind of individual, usually small-scale phenomenon, and what is going on in the world around us. Information is everywhere, forms of media that permit and encourage "communication" constantly emerge, and time spent with them grows to occupy and ever-widening expanse of our lives. Macluhan's prediction of the "global village" seems ever more true. 

But what about the receptors of all this communication? What about us, in other words? How can we possibly capture and sift all this information, even in the accelerated speed mode in which so many of us seem to operate? 

There is no shortage of transmitters, but are the receptors being given enough attention? Remeber that WE are the receptors!  Has the fact that we are aware of tragedies taking place all around the world made us, as individuals, more tolerant? Does the fact that we have assess to newpapers, magzines, books, radio, e-mail, the web, facebook and twitter make us think better? And when do we find the time to think anyaway with all this bombardment? The human brain is an amazing piece of equipment, but do we allow it space enough to work well?

Morning reflections, perhaps to be pursued. (And I am NOT a Luddite)

3 comments:

  1. T.Martin Lesh.8 June 2012 at 14:44

    No you are not a Luddite . And neither am I . But the fact is you're spot on in your line of thinking . Last year the wife and I after three years of family tragedy took two weeks in the CO Mts at a resort town where it is entirely possible to ignore the outside World completely . So we did . When we came back to real life and what turned out to be a raft of tragedies in the news etc .... we asked ourselves ; Did it make a bit of difference in ours or anyone else's lives that we hadn't heard any news for the last two weeks . Would it make a bit of difference if we still didn't ?

    Our eventual answer was a resounding ... NO !

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes Martin, I think that is quite a part of the story. The bombardment of information (which can be interesting, dramatic, tragic or totally insignificant and trivial) does not make a resounding difference on our individual lives. Yet we somehow are hooked on this flow. And also these multiple means of communication prompt us to keep in constant touch with one another, albeit mostly on a pretty insignificant level (who is really interested in the quality of the coffee you have just drunk ????). I think we need time and space to think a bit for ouselves and slow down. And this does involve getting "untuned" from the everyday mass of unsorted information we receive.

    ReplyDelete