Don't Burst My Bubble

Don’t Burst my Bubble

With heads down, fingers tapping, and ear buds in place, two friends pass without so much as a head nod. Each person was safely ensconced in his or her own transparent technology bubble ignoring the outside world. With each leap in technology, people become more and more isolated. With each leap in political correctness people are less and less likely to communicate with others for fear of offending them. Consequently, face-to-face social skills have eroded. As a culture, we are retreating to our technology bubbles and hope no one breaks our bubble.

Unhappy people do what they can to become happy. Happy people do what they can to stay happy. Technology bubbles filter out things and ideas that tend to make happy people unhappy. Unhappy people tend to filter out things and ideas that prevent them from becoming happy. High unemployment, a sluggish economy, political bickering are unhappy things that get filtered out. As a result, people are becoming increasing less informed about current events, especially in the political arena.

Social media limits personal contacts to a close group of vetted friends. Ear buds send the message, “I don’t want to talk to you.” People are less likely to initiate conversations with people who are wearing ear phones. Anonymous, internet communications relieve writers from taking personal responsibility for what they say. A personal opinion, attitude, or ideology can be safely put forth without the worry of face-to-face negative feedback. Anonymous communications keep people safely tucked in their technology bubbles.

People in technology bubbles lose touch with their outside environments. If this were not the case, then why do people suddenly stop at the top or bottom of escalators to answer phones or send text messages, thus effectively blocking egress? Why do people stop at the end of jet ways to telephone or text message family or friends, thus causing pedestrian traffic jams? Why do applicants answer their cell phones and send text messages during job interviews and then wonder why they did not get the job? Why do people blindly walk into lightposts and water fountains? People send text messages while they drive, often with tragic consequences. Living in a technology bubble is safe but selfish, and sometime dangerous.

Students in my college classes often tell me that the quality of communications has not changed, only the method of communicating. Instead of shaking people’s hands, people electronically exchange ones and zeros with a cluster of bubbles that are electronically tethered to one another with the mantra, “Don’t burst my bubble.”