Technology

Where does time go? I can't believe that yet another week has passed since my last entry in here....& I'm still trying to catch up with the ideas that came to me last month on holiday!

Walking around a supermarket, I spotted a printer machine for digital photos and I suddenly realised how technology has changed our experience of holiday photos. It used to be the case that you went away, you took photos and you had to wait until you got home & had them developed in order to see them. Digital cameras allow us to see our photos instantly. If we're not happy with them, we can delete them & take them again. We can bring them home, upload them onto our computers and manipulate them to improve them, or make them look as we want them to look. We can even go to the supermarket, whilst on holiday, print them & take them home with us! And that's all good stuff BUT....where's the excitement of the anticipation?

I remember taking films into shops, having to leave them for a few days before going back to collect them. I'd be impatient to see my photos, but at the same time, that anticipation was part of the experience. Would they have come out? How would they look? And that's all gone now with digital photos.

With the internet, we can even share our photos whilst we're still on holiday. Fantastic; in some respects. But again, what damage is that instantaneous communication doing to us? Holidays used to be a time of getting away from it all; that's no longer the case. Mobile phones and the internet allow our families and friends to be there with us. And maybe that's a good thing, BUT....where's the thrill of getting away from everyone gone? Where's the experience of missing people and looking forward to telling them about our holidays?

It seems that increasingly, that technology leads people to become less and less independent. Before mobile phones, we had to plan things ahead of time, we had to think for ourselves, we had to go for periods of time without contacting our loved ones. Now, we can contact them at any time of the day for help, advice, support, or just to check in with them. And again, that definitely has its advantages, but it also encourages dependence. It reduces people's capacity to take responsibility for themselves, to make decisions for themselves, to exist without their loved ones. It also removes again, the anticipation that builds up when you haven't spoken to someone for a period of time.

At times, I find my mobile intrusive and often have it switched to silent when I don't want to be disturbed. And of course, when I'm with clients, it's turned to silent too. I don't always want my time and space invaded or want to be troubled with other peoples' often trivial comments and questions. At other times though, it's lovely to receive a thoughtful message.

The internet encourages, at times, constant sharing of ourselves, and again I can see the advantages, BUT.....it also seems narcissistic at times to share stuff that other people aren't really interested in. I know I am guilty of this myself at times, on Facebook; what makes me so special that other people need to know what I'm up to? Do they care? It can help people who are lonely or isolated connect with other people, but how real is it? We can monitor what we say; choose what image of ourselves we wish to portray by the words and statements we use.

Overall, I think technological advances are a good thing, but I do worry about the psychological effects on us all......

Flying

I promised a couple of weeks back to write down some of the thoughts I'd had whilst on holiday, & obviously haven't gotten round to it yet! I'm going to go some way to making amends there with this blog entry....these thought were all written in the back of a text book (which I was reading for my PhD) on the plane on my way over to Murcia in Spain....which for me is a relatively new thing. In the past, I wouldn't have dreamed about writing in a text book; now all of my text books are filled with underlinings, highlights, notes in the margins...& I love them for it now! They look loved, used, & full of bits of me; so much more personal now.

Over the last year I've been lucky enough to do some of my PhD work up in the sky sitting on planes and it's such a lovely place in which to work. There's none of the distractions which are found on the ground. I can't just get up & go out for a walk or for a coffee, and I think that because I know that, I don't want to. I settle down for the duration of the journey & work. And it's lovely to be away from everything. I love that feeling of being away from everything & not being able to do anything about whatever is going on below down on the ground. Away from mobile phones, away from computers; it's just me & my books / papers....& of course, my thoughts. It's nice too to be able to look out of the window at the world miles below or to simply gaze at the clouds & observe the many different cloud formations there are.

There's something reassuring for me too, knowing that I'm safe in the hands of the pilots. I know I don't need to worry about anything; it's nice to completely hand over all responsibility for a while. I know I'm safe up there in their hands. And I know, and trust in the laws of physics and nature to keep the plane up there in the sky. How incredible! And how lucky are we to live in a time when we can enjoy the wonders of air travel. I remember flying over the pyrenees and being amazed at the stunning scenery below; the rugged mountains and stunning shades of aquamarine as pools/lakes reflected the blue of the sky. I was also aware of the danger though... stunning to look at, but if the plane did need to make an emergency landing, it would be impossible to find anything resembling a landing strip there. And sometimes it's that little edge of danger that makes me stop and look at the world with awe, wonder and amazement.

I wonder if the pilots are aware of the responsibility they carry; do they think about the fact that they have all those passengers' lives in their hands? Do they ever stop to think how much we, as passengers, have to trust the pilots who fly us round the world. Are they aware of a sense of power, knowing they're in control of such a big and powerful machine? And it's such a shame that passengers are no longer allowed to visit the cockpit to see the pilot's eye view; it must be amazing to be up front and to see the views directly ahead through their windscreen.

I enjoyed sitting listening to the sounds of the engines. I find it reassuring to hear their gentle purr. I like to listen to what's going on around me, rather than blocking the outside world out with distractions like MP3 players. It's fascinating too, to overhear snippets of other passengers' conversations.. to sometimes hear their fears, their excitements, their plans. I like to look around me & wonder where everyone is heading for; are they off on holiday, business trips, visiting family/friends? Every person sitting in that metal capsule flying through the air has their own story to tell... and we quite often never know what story the person sat right next to us for 'x' hours might have to tell.

Aeroplanes....full of people with interesting lives and stories to tell.....