Looking Forward: Commentary by Chris Jones
I’ve said many times how much I enjoy the photography presented on NH+. I find the work to be interesting and very soothing. And then, all too soon, back to reality.
The soothing nature of your product begs the question… Is it me, or do others wonder if perhaps there is too much technology surrounding us?
Is the 24-hour news cycle too demanding on filling up space in our lives? Too much internet?
Do we really need to see and know so much that at times it becomes “too much”. I suppose it is a matter of personal choice, which, in its purest form, I am all for. But not without some caveats.
For example:
As a frequent traveler I am always amazed by some people’s insistence on having cell phone conversations while sitting next to a perfectly strange stranger. For some it has gotten so bad that there are now “Quiet Cars” on trains where you must speak softly, and the use of mobile phones is prohibited. So it has come to that, we have to be regulated by Amtrak.
On a recent trip into New York I was seated on the Acela next to a chap who was discussing his 401(K) and the investment options for next year. While returning from Charlotte last week on U.S. Air I was seated behind a woman who was convinced her husband was cheating on her and I guess she felt compelled to let the entire plane know by conversing with some other dope as we sat at the gate. And trust me, she wanted to make sure whoever she was talking to on her mobile phone was able to hear her. On another recent flight a seat mate was actually firing someone. Is nothing sacred? The world has to know my boss just canned me? What, no peanuts either?
I know your readership is young, if not young at heart, but I would remind them that there was a kinder, gentler time when people actually used payphones that were positioned inside a booth when a telephonic world craved privacy. You could close the door and have a private conversation without the world knowing, or having to know, that your bowels were functioning properly, that your kid had a fight with his sibling, or that ‘the colonoscopy went very well’.
In today’s rather fast paced lifestyle we are not as fortunate. Phone booths, hell, payphones are dinosaurs. Relics of a time long past.
People are convinced, for example, that as soon as the plane touches down that they are obligated to call Aunt ‘Whoever’ and let her know that they arrived. You can’t even get out of your seat and yet the phone conversations start again! Then I think, well, if the plane had crashed it would probably make the news!
A conundrum.
But really, as a paying passenger on crummy flights eating crummy food (if any) sitting with your knees in your throat I just don’t want to know what your raison d’être is!
Now don’t get me wrong, there are many wonderful advantages of technology today. Obviously the internet is one, indoor plumbing another, and, of course, how could we live without a microwave oven?! (I’m not sure I’ve ever used one to do much more then heat a frozen bagel or make popcorn.) But technological self indulgence in public places seems to be little more than an open outhouse where you can hang it out there for everyone to see.
Then there is the news. Not New Hartford Plus, mind you, but Cable and Network, and I admit it, I’m a news junkie. I serve my own addictions.
Perhaps again I’m just being an old fuddy-duddy but there are some things I just don’t want to see. For example, me in a bathing suit, or the latest assault of a public person in the form of the Italian Prime Minister. In glorious living color we were treated to the blood and guts throwing of an object that battered the poor chap silly. Unable to help themselves in their neverending search for ratings, we are likewise pummeled by the video images replayed infinitum by the news shows seeking anything even remotely interesting to put before the masses.
They even like to tease the audience by letting you know to ‘stay tuned’ so you can see the assault again.
No need for TIVO or even You Tube. You can simply watch and watch and watch. Train wrecks are always good viewing!
Weather it’s Tiger and his bevy of beauties smattered all over everything while his wife sits in their 14,000 square foot mansion wondering what the hell he’s been doing, or perhaps more politicians arguing about spending money we don’t have, saying the same things over and over again, the answer seems the same. More really is more, and more complex is astounding.
The crowd is roaring like the Romans watching the gladiators. But as much as I love the news, it becomes a bore all too quickly.
So in our neverending quest to stay in touch or be touched by something or someone instead of “reaching out and touching someone” as was suggested in the AT+T ads of old, we are now touched by everyone, even the ones we don’t want to touch us, touch us! It’s called spam, identity theft, or junk mail.
Personal space in the modern world is a thing of great value. Respecting the world, the environment, and each other really does take a little effort. Not much, just a little.
So I guess the reality of today is that the ability to get in just about anyone’s face, like it or not, and the willingness of morons like me to keep watching, and watching even though I am loaded with remote controls to change the moment, is what makes the world turn. I’m as much a part of my problem as anyone. Except that when I fly I don’t discuss with strangers listening in everywhere just how crummy my life really is.
And maybe some day, at some point, just maybe, I’ll just grow so tired of it all that I will turn in my Blackberry, turn off the TV, turn off my computer, and just look outside to see what is really going on.
Probably not.
Like I said, train wrecks make for good entertainment.
Can you hear me now?
Chris Jones, a long-time New Hartford resident, is a former selectman of the town.
A telephone booth on Route 44 this past winter before it was removed. Photo: Maria Moore
