Spring Break
Against the machine: Our creepy techno fetish
Philip Primeau
Issue date: 4/24/08 Section: Opinion
There's this old slogan that you can still spot on wrinkled t-shirts and the backs of beat-up cars. "Kill Your Television," it reads.
I've mulled this graying exhortation a lot lately, marveling at how archaic it has become. A hybrid of two vaguely related impulses-hippie back-to-basics and Luddite technophobia-the plea now seems so dated that it might as well read, "Kill Your Horseless Carriage."
The slogan wasn't always so irrelevant. During television's heyday, when it was cutting-edge technology, the box provided quite a target for simpler folks who feared it would desensitize the spirit, distract the mind and disfigure the old pace of life.
These days, however, "Kill Your Television" must prompt less vitriol among backwards-looking people. After all, the charges against T.V. are that it cheapens, corrodes and produces an artificial sense of togetherness. Yet compared to mass Internet, easy mobile communication and the virtual social networking craze they have spawned, a little basic cable seems innocent on all counts.
Older people may have ducked these technological advances, but our generation stares them in the face. It's the stuff of our youth.
We grew up in a whirlwind of text messages, custom cell phone rings, wall posts and e-mails; we've matured in a dizzying blitz of Web surfing, IM back-and-forths, viral videos and Web memes.
There's been, for the past 10 years, a nonstop storm of information and communication.
Recently, in particular, daily existence has been at once shrunken and accelerated. Everything and everyone is a click or scroll away, accessed with minimal energy and maximum speed.
Haven't heard that song-download it. Haven't seen that episode-grab it on iTunes. Haven't watched that "hilarious" homemade video-troll YouTube.
And check DrudgeReport, too. Check Digg. Check PerezHilton and Gawker. Check your friend's blog (it's boring, but there's no friendship without duty).
Send an instant message. Update your away status. "Friend" the kid you met last weekend.
I've mulled this graying exhortation a lot lately, marveling at how archaic it has become. A hybrid of two vaguely related impulses-hippie back-to-basics and Luddite technophobia-the plea now seems so dated that it might as well read, "Kill Your Horseless Carriage."
The slogan wasn't always so irrelevant. During television's heyday, when it was cutting-edge technology, the box provided quite a target for simpler folks who feared it would desensitize the spirit, distract the mind and disfigure the old pace of life.
These days, however, "Kill Your Television" must prompt less vitriol among backwards-looking people. After all, the charges against T.V. are that it cheapens, corrodes and produces an artificial sense of togetherness. Yet compared to mass Internet, easy mobile communication and the virtual social networking craze they have spawned, a little basic cable seems innocent on all counts.
Older people may have ducked these technological advances, but our generation stares them in the face. It's the stuff of our youth.
We grew up in a whirlwind of text messages, custom cell phone rings, wall posts and e-mails; we've matured in a dizzying blitz of Web surfing, IM back-and-forths, viral videos and Web memes.
There's been, for the past 10 years, a nonstop storm of information and communication.
Recently, in particular, daily existence has been at once shrunken and accelerated. Everything and everyone is a click or scroll away, accessed with minimal energy and maximum speed.
Haven't heard that song-download it. Haven't seen that episode-grab it on iTunes. Haven't watched that "hilarious" homemade video-troll YouTube.
And check DrudgeReport, too. Check Digg. Check PerezHilton and Gawker. Check your friend's blog (it's boring, but there's no friendship without duty).
Send an instant message. Update your away status. "Friend" the kid you met last weekend.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Monica
posted 7/19/08 @ 8:54 PM EST
I've never really thought about technology as holding me back, but that is a very interesting perspective.
Our generation really does get to the point where, we're so restricted from basically worshipping our electronics. (Continued…)
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