The digital age has put information at our fingertips in unprecedented amounts and at unprecedented speeds. It's the reason why I can write this blog post while listening to any subset of the songs in my library, without getting up to find a new CD. (tape? record?) I can browse through all of my photos without removing the old Rubbermaid tub from the closet and searching for the album I want.
Neil Postman pointed out that "culture always pays a price for technology." What price do we pay for this convenience? Desensitization. Just over 20 years ago, the space shuttle Challenger disintegrated and time stopped. In 2003, Columbia disintegrated on re-entry and it made its way in and out of everyone's RSS feeds for a couple weeks. Even on September 11, 2001 - arguably the day with the largest historical impact thus far in my life - my day was relatively routine.
Cost/benefit analysis? As long as a few keystrokes allow me to listen to Debussy rather than finding the 8-track (and the 8-track player?), the benefits outweigh the costs. However, society needs a way to "re-sensitize." My guess is that this will happen on an individual level, rather than societal. For me, I take a step back from the constant stream of information and realize the magnitude of the events transpiring around me. Then I plug myself back in.
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1 comment:
Long live the logic of Econ 110!
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