The Disappearance of the Encyclopedia Salesmen

“you have your laptop in the *office*? eww gross lol”

“omg did you see that? That was crazy lol”

“IDK my bff Rose ROFLMAO”

Perhaps, your friends are wittier than mine. However, the above text messages which I actually received are not indicative of the fact that the median age of my social circle is 30 years of age.

Perhaps, you became one of Ashton Kutcher’s followers when he engaged in a battle against the venerable media conglomerate, CNN, to garner a million followers on Twitter first. If so, you may also remember that Kutcher was victorious in his virtual quest. Kutcher, 1. Mankind, 0.

Perhaps, you remember tinny answering machines stating that the Smith family was not home right now, but would call you back as soon as they got home. Or, perhaps, one reminisces about crowding around the television to watch “MacGyver.” Maybe you can remember when eight-track players were once luxuries in automobiles or when Apple’s original moniker was Macintosh.

Rather than bridging the divide between strangers, technology has forced us to compartmentalize all of our thoughts into 140 character “tweets,” status updates on Facebook or drawing from a collection of avatars to express your emotions on MySpace. The primary issue at stake is not the incorporation of technology in our everyday lives, but the subversive act of shunning human interaction. The digital age in which we live has removed the need for the answering machine, handwritten letters and actual, physical---and heartfelt---human interaction. Because the possibility remains that a compilation of “Greatest Hits” text messages may break onto the New York Times bestseller’s top ten list, this possibility is exemplary of the degradation of human interaction in juxtaposition with media and its complex marriage with technology.

We live in a world where reality television show stars, such as Lauren Conrad of “Laguna Beach” and “The Hills” fame, can write a New York Times bestseller, thereby tainting the life’s work of the prestigious authors on the same list before her who may have found only singular success for the duration of their lives; or, posthumously. Her novel, the first of a series of three, tells the story of a 19-year-old teenager who moves to Hollywood and ends up as the star of her own reality show. As far-fetched as her story may be from her real life, her book remained on the best-seller’s list for two straight weeks. In my mind, there is no doubt that her popularity was derived from a reality television show and retained by blogs, internet fan clubs and word of mouth spread via teenagers and texting.

Having wrested with technology over the past six decades, my Mother has even learned how to text. Similar to the angst she developed as I was learning to drive, I feel a coronary developing as my kin struggles to slowly, but surely, write a 10-word text message. Like a teenager, she developed the need to text message due to the increasing technological mobility adapted by her social circle. Her afternoons are now filled with “lol” and “r u going tonite?” rather than a phone call or a conversation over coffee. The Japanese even coined the term hikikomori to describe socially withdrawn youth, who seclude themselves in their rooms and rely exclusively upon digital communications in order to avoid any kind of public interaction. The internet provides anonymity, which, in turn, provides a sense of security and ambiguity.

The internet provides a wealth of information, but it is up to the users to determine the use and relevance, if any, of the content. As coined by Digital Nation, there are two types of people living in our digital world: Digital Natives---those who have grown up in a digital culture and hyper connectivity---and Digital Immigrants, or those who are new to the changing technologies and are slow to adapt. Digital Natives aged 13 to 17 average 1,742 text messages a month 89 percent of 18- to 24-year-old Americans are online. In addition, Digital Natives aged 12 to 24 spend 4.5 hours a day viewing screen media (TV, Internet, Internet video, mobile video), excluding games. The interconnectivity between technology and ours lives is growing increasingly stronger each day and our backs strain more with the advent of modern technology. A 2007 study of children's computer use found that none of the participants used a safe posture.

Today, we live in an age of unprecedented technological freedom. But, this freedom has resulted in an oppression of human interaction and, at times, sensitivity. Whereas humans craved interaction and warmth before, their days are now filled with avatars and text messages. There is no intimacy in a tweet or a text message or a status update. There is no romanticizing over the loss of grammar or the lack of punctuation in the brief glimpses into our lives. Where have the days of the milkmen and encyclopedia salesman gone?

@reader If you’re having your baby or getting married, I don’t want to find out on Facebook.