This guy walks into the stands of Dodger Stadium and, hankering for some feminine companionship, he whips out his smartphone and taps his app, scrolling through pictures of young women. He makes a choice, sends a message, gets a response, and within a half an hour they meet for a beer in the concession stand. Techno-dating!
This is no joke, but a true story as reported by Shan Li of the Los Angeles Times who quotes another of these hip appsters: “Everyone wants everything now because technology is all about the now, being in the moment.”
Skimming the surface
Strange…I always thought that being in the moment referred to consciousness, or even a measure of enlightenment rather than simply a form of impatience or some version of attention deficit disorder. When dating becomes like dining, selecting your “dish” from a menu, there is a pretty clear indication of a real cultural shift from a being-in-the-moment-consciousness-lifestyle toward a more impatient-need-to-know/see/experience-now-lifestyle that appears to skim over the surface of this human experience we’re having…and sharing… to a degree.
There’s one element of this human experience that cannot be forced to yield to this “need it now” generation: Birth.
It still takes nine months for a human being to reach the threshold of life.
Security and self-discovery
If it takes nine months just to get to the threshold of this human experience, then time is not something to merely be filled, spent carelessly or wasted. Time is a dynamic playground or laboratory offered to us in which to seek, to explore, to question, to innovate, and yes, to create… in order to understand who we are and why we are here…and what we are capable of achieving as human beings.
There are some who might suggest that the Dodger Stadium guy was pretty creative, but one could also suggest that he has attachment issues that have somewhat diminished his capacity to embrace life in its more serendipitous form.
How much is enough?
If we check into the field of neuroscience, we discover that studies of the human brain have revealed significant changes in the brain since the mid 60s when extensive, directed studies were begun. The conclusion is that “our sensitivity to stimuli is decreasing at a rate of about 1 percent per year. In order to be registered by the brain, “especially strong stimuli” are required.
Commenting on these studies, James Chilton Pearce notes that “young people must have a steady input of high-level stimuli or else sink into sensory isolation and anxiety,” as in the constant “chattering” of texting and twittering.
Devastating earthquakes, the unbelievable force of tsunamis, the massive destruction of floods, and the whirling power of tornados gobbling up structures of all sizes…all seem to be trying to get our attention and hold it long enough for us to recognize the human impact on the world environment and the fact that human survival may depend upon extending our attention span long enough to make some changes in the way we live and relate! read the entire artilce in the Summer, 2011 edition of South Coast Insider at http://issuu.com/coastalmags/docs/scpt_sum11
