Garrett Looker is a sophomore journalism major and writes "On the Lookout" for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Garrett at galooker@bsu.edu.
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I’m walking.
Up and down McKinley, past the bell tower and Frog Baby too.
I’m still walking.
Past Benny and into the Village. I dodge left and right, avoiding hordes of people that share the walkway.
“Ohh ... sorry,” one says.
A pair of sunglasses looks up just before he shoulder-checks me into the wall. He grunts as I squeeze by.
Welcome to the world of the living dead, a place where those infected resign to a measly existence of life, trapped in a trance, starring blankly at their smart phones as they shuffle along.
I know what you’re thinking, “well that’s a little excessive. ... ”
I agree, it certainly is excessive. But think about it for just a moment. If by the off chance you’re reading this in the Daily News print edition (and if so, I made it. Hi Mom) then you’re probably reading this on your smart phone. Scrolling and scrolling as this paragraph becomes too long to completely fit on your tiny screen.
In that case, you’re infected. Welcome to the Living Dead. Proceed to scroll with caution as you nearly walk into a tour group on your way to class.
If you’ve made it this far, then I’ve counteracted my original intentions with this article.
So go ahead, give in to technology. Just keep scrolling.
This is what we do every day. We wake up. Check social media. We go to class. Text Mom. Walk to lunch. Check bank account. Eat Chick-Fil-A nuggets. Text Mom about bank account. Dip nugget in sauce. Twitter. Sauce. Instagram. Sauce. Nugget. Mom. Text. Sauce. Nugget. Twitter. Nugget. Bank. Mom. Sauce. Cry.
It’s a bleak existence, but then again, at least it is an existence.
But let’s be honest with ourselves. Technology is amazing. We’ve come all this way, from cave paintings to the exploding Samsung Galaxies.
But is this technology, or what today the world would consider “art,” really worth throwing away our reality in the present? What exactly are you giving up as you read this sentence and nearly walk blindly into on-coming traffic?
We’re giving up our knowledge of the world around us.
We reside to compact our fixed reality into the dimly lit screens of our shattered iPhones. We forget to look up and see those around us, to see those that we love, to see those that love us.
We’re giving up our humanity.
For Van Gogh, his art was enough to give up his ear. I guess we have to ask ourselves, is the technology we consume every day enough to allow it to consume us. Is it enough to give up our reality?
But that’s enough for a complaint. Besides, you better look up before you walk straight into that wall.
So go ahead, keep scrolling. Give in to technology. Sometimes, it’s the only thing we can do.
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