Monday, July 31, 2017

The Magic of Personal Time


Vasu Reddy from Chicago

We no longer have any more personal space.  Our phones, computers, work, home, driving, shopping, walking and whatever we are doing including sleeping is on a clock or on a timer.  Someone is monitoring or watching what we do, even if we are unaware.  Our whereabouts and our habits are recorded and available.  Not that we should worry, but our every moment is there to rewind and review.  Despite the ever-increasing archiving of our every action, some of us (many of us) are beginning to constantly update our every moment.  What was at a time the life styles of the rich and famous, is now the same for someone on Facebook or Instagram.  Personal albums no longer are that, but on the net for everyone to see, and perhaps reminisce and criticize.  Our daily routines are common updates.  While a personal space is on a constant update, the same is also being exploited by the fanatics and politicians.  For whatever it is worth our life is out there in the cyberspace and updated and archived as we live it.
The more we advance technologically (which is now only beyond our imagination) the less we can claim to privacy.  The judicial system and educational system certainly have a great amount of difficulty in pacing with the technology advancements.  We can’t be complaining about our ability to talk, text, google and be in touch; all with relative ease and claim to privacy.  The disappearing private space (time) of one’s life is a common aspect of today’s advanced (and continuing) communications.
Do I really want to know everything?  The breaking news, instant communications and 24/7 monitoring that is a part of everyday life, and do I really want this? All while keeping every waking moment as a constant update all in as many channels of communication as possible.  The real-time news and analysis (mainly geared to the negatives), even the weather update every 10 minutes, really makes good listening for about 15 minutes, then becomes repetitive.  Even when referenced as breaking news, what we hear is simply repeated and again, until something else becomes breaking news.
We combine personal updates as much as we can and then we get network coverage constantly, and everything is breaking.  On a lighter side, recently Trump’s white house spokesman had said that Trump’s tweets should be considered as official presidential pronouncements.  This man is no longer working for Trump and the white house, and Trump is quick to change his positions as fast as he can type.
Life and technology is what we have made for our self.  We can be inspired by what it could be and how far can we imagine and innovate.  There should be no doubt that we will continue to discover and dream of unimaginable facets of our mind.  There is absolutely no limit to what the human ingenuity can do.  There is no contest or there is no poll that determines the next innovation, and what comes with the next generation of technology is first the invention, then the after effects.  We neither have control of our ability to innovate and invent, nor the ability to foresee the after effects of our inventions.  As is with everything in life, the good and the bad (sometimes ugly) goes with each aspect, and technology gets no respite with after effects.
Imagine the days of solitude and life uninterrupted?  No longer the case, even on the space station.  What would it be to get on a motorcycle (a huge Harley Davidson) and just drive coast to coast.  No plans, no GPS, no one else; just drive until the next stop, and keep driving and visiting the grand and welcoming nature.  Leave the mobile behind, and no internet to follow, just you and the Harley and the wonders of the nation, and just keep riding, and just enjoying the nuances of the nation’s beauty and diversity.  Irrespective of how long you ride, nothing is going to change in the world.  The breaking news will continue to break, will be the same when you log back in.

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