The people I listen to on the radio and the people I read are talking about it. A class I took last year examined it in depth. I see it everyday in my elevator, on the street, at the theater. It is our attachment to our electronic devices.
Two quotes stopped me in my tracks. One was from the comedian Louis C.K. in an article by Adam Gopnik in the New Yorker:
Everything is amazing and nobody is happy. Each citizen carries on her person a computer more powerful than any available to a billionaire two decades ago, and many are using their devices to express their unbridled rage at the society that put them in our pockets.
The other quote came up in a discussion between Terry Gross and Adam Alter about his book "Irresistible. The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked." His research shows that addiction to video gaming and electronic devices has the same effect on us as does heroin. In commenting on this he says:
"These people have less of an attention span than that of a goldfish."
Gopnik's essay examines the crushing re-examination of liberalism and capitalism. Alter's book lays it out pretty clearly in his title.
Two authors. Two Adams. Is the "original" Adam trying to tell us something?
So interesting. And so true.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Joan. You've captured something essential in a very few words.
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