| by Bob Levine | 3/24/07 | 294 views |
While casually perusing the morning’s headlines, I came across an article regarding Duke University distributing free iPod's to the incoming freshmen class. FREE IPods!?!?! I can already hear the glowing reactions from student bodies across the nation upon learning of this grand gesture:
"I wish my school did that!"
"Who doesn't like music?"
“All I ever get are free T-shirts!”
"Why the hell isn’t Duke’s fight song Sympathy for the Devil? I mean the Devil is blue, right?”
My friends, don't be fooled. Have you looked around campuses these days? Pedestrian down College X’s Main Street, and count a) the amount of people listening to iPods, b) the amount of people using a cell phone (talking or texting), and c) the total amount of people you pass.
(a+b)/c = % of student population out of touch with their own reality
Don't get me wrong- I'm as guilty as the next disconnected youth (the term "disconnected youth" seems oddly out-of-date, as the disconnected youth these days are actually the connected ones- connected to the internet, the XBOX and the power of mindless entertainment). Personal experience: while walking to the gym the other day, I passed by two acquaintances and one person I actually consider a friend. My stylish iPod happened to be emitting the album Kid A by Radiohead at the same time. As a result, both acquaintances received the standard salutatory head nod, while I greeted my friend with a "hello" that I could barely hear myself over the pulsating beats of the track Idiotech; it was impossible not to relish in the irony of the song selection.
I am an iPod owner and user. I dig the unique and abstract connection that can be made between the music pumping into my ear drums and my ever-changing physical surroundings. It's "I am a Bird Now" by Antony and the Johnsons in the snow, "Trouble" by Ray LaMontagne in the fall, CCR in the summertime and the Garden State Soundtrack whenever I don't mind being an emo-clad, hopeless romantic, walking cliché. But I understand that an iPod is a luxury and not a right; I do my best to use it sparingly. It’s like a drug: it seems like a great idea at first, but ultimately just leads to bad habits (I’m reminded of steroids due their shared propensity for gym usage).
Casual conversation is going the way of the dinosaur, only this time without the cataclysmic meteor. I know what you're thinking: Are we really going to miss the occasional "Hey! How are you? Things sure are swell, eh?" Hell, most people probably chalk up these casual encounters as nothing more than daily annoyances. However, casual conversation is necessary to promote an extroverted society and enhance general communication skills - especially among the youth. Case in point: While visiting the local Staples to pick up some much needed computer paper (and sign the death certificate of at least one more tree), I witnessed something I haven't been able to shake from my mind since: a chunky, adolescent male sporting an iPod Nano and mimicking the dance moves of the Spice Girls, all under the less-than-watchful eye of his inattentive father. It wasn't so much the bad parenting that bothered me, nor was it the graceful sway of baby fat (although neither was particularly pleasant). What really struck me was that from the time the boy high-stepped out of his car, to the time he bumped-and-grinded his way back in, not once did he remove his ear plugs, utilize his vocal chords or even make eye contact with his anyone- including his father. He did, however, manage to masterfully lip-synch “spice it to the left if you know that you feel fine, shake it to the right if you’re having a good time.” I think you know the rest.
Look, I love conversation. I’ve been accused of loving it too much- of being too intent on expressing my ideas, of refusing to let others get their points of view out and of generally being overly accusatory and domineering in banter. I consider myself a conversationalist. People tell me I take on discussion as if both sides were naturally opposed; as if conversation was innately a competition. And they’re right, I think conversation is a competition- but it’s the type where if everyone plays right, all participants win. If I cut someone off mid-sentence it’s not because I’m not listening- it’s because I’m listening so intently that I can’t wait to tell you my thoughts on the subject. And you, in turn, should be just as intent on listening to me and expanding on my thoughts further. And then I expand on your thoughts and then you expand on mine and we continue to do this until we come to a conclusion or it’s time to smoke a cigarette. This is how humans are supposed to socialize. Socialization promotes affective communication and affective communication promotes the transference of KNOWLEDGE.
I’m not really sure what the future will bring. Technology is advancing faster than Manifest Destiny’s western front, and “the future” is legitimately becoming “the present” (the other day I saw a flat-screen TV by the checkout register at Pathmark…. think about that for a second, a FLAT SCREEN TV by the CHECKOUT REGISTER at PATHMARK). The access and availability of information is at an all-time high and some would have you believe that this is intellectually beneficial. But if an iPod and a search engine have replaced effective parenting and proper communication with one’s piers, than an XBOX 360, 720 or even 980 won’t be enough to make us into well-rounded adults- and another cataclysmic meteor isn’t the worst idea after all. I just hope the apocalyptic sound of the meteor approaching isn’t drowned out by my iPod.
     
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University of Delaware
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