Do you ever look at the world we live in and wonder what we were thinking?
Hi, sorry, can you take the earphones out for one minute? Thanks. I know you’re in a hurry, so I’ll be as quick as I can—ok? Cool.
I'd like to share some thoughts with you.
Recently I’d been invited to a party, to which my friend and her younger brother also came. No alcohol or meat was served at this party, and the hosts had organised old-fashioned party games for the guests, imagine that?!
At first I didn’t really want to participate. I was wearing long boots, a short denim skirt and a new cardigan, so I wasn’t dressed for the occasion, nor that keen to get all hot and sweaty. However, somehow I ended up being convinced to join in these silly games, and before long I was running around like a little kid and having a great time. Some things are more important than keeping one’s clothes and hair looking neat, I realised, and the smiles on everyone’s’ faces afterwards were far more beautiful than any Chanel jacket.
One thing that bothered me, however, was that my friend’s fourteen year-old brother was bored out of his mind. I spoke to my friend about this, and she just sighed. You see, we’d both grown up without video games and cyber space. As kids we were used to making our own fun and were not dependant upon external electronic stimuli to be entertained.
By contrast, if my friend’s little brother wasn’t playing computer games, listening to music or watching a movie, then he was BORED.
This caused me to think a little more about my own upbringing: my parents had just moved to this country a year before I was born, and so we had very little money when I was growing up. I had been allowed to watch television, but my hours in front of the box were closely monitored. I used to be jealous of the other kids who all seemed to have the latest Nintendo games, Sony Playstations and internet, which my parents could not, and would not, afford. I can remember in year nine science class (I would have been about fourteen or fifteen) when the teacher asked if there was anyone who did not have internet access at home… Guess who’s hand was the only one raised?
Things are different now. We have home access to the internet. My sister and I earn money, so we bought ourselves a retro Super Nintendo and Super Mario game off ebay. She has a Nintendo DS, and for a while I had plans to get one as well. And a better phone. And a new camera. And an ipod. And…
Wait a minute.
I started to mute the TV commercials, because they had gone from being a mere annoyance, to something more sinister for me: why do I need this, and why do I need it NOW? In six months time there’s going to be an even better version of the thing which I will ‘need’. And everybody else will have it, putting me under pressure to keep up with the Joneses. But have you ever stopped to ask yourself what the point of it is?
If technology improves our lives then why is our world in the state that it is? Why are people still starving, trees still dying and rivers being poisoned? Does technology improve our lives in the sense of enriching them, or does it merely cushion them? Why are we told to buy this and buy that; is it merely because we are living in a consumer society where everybody is just trying to make a buck? Are we being distracted from something else? Why can’t kids entertain themselves anymore? Or even adults?
Why are people who ask these questions labelled conspiracy theorists?
‘I think, therefore I am,’ said Descartes, and if you believe that words follow thoughts, and actions follow words, then who is really to blame for the state of the world and the way we are today?
Ask yourself this: do you think our Entertainment Society has arisen by accident?
…
Don’t worry, you can go back to listening to Lady Gaga now.
