A man, in his 50’s dressed in a sharp suit, swerved along the sidewalk, picking up piece after piece of litter that was not his own. I stepped over a white paper bag slowly blowing in the breeze, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw him bend down to pick it up.
I walked about 20 paces before turning back to look the man in the eye and thank him. He gave a casual wave and a nod as he continued his good deed.
This, I thought, is what I miss when I absorb myself in my phone and technology. Humanity; the quirky reality that is the human experience. Sure, I can get some personality via some friends’ off humor on social media websites, but the real substance is missing.
Just a few moment after witnessing this man in his act of kindness, I entered a theater to see the film Her. The film, a tale about a man who falls in love with a highly advanced operating system, only deepened the impact of such a sight just moments after putting my phone away. I resolved that when I gave up social media, I was going to make an attempt to really observe the people around me.
In the past few days of my observation, I have come to realize that I have purposely avoided humanity and distanced myself from it with my phone. And I would venture to say that many out there have as well.
It is not that I am uninterested in what is going on around me. It is that strangers show me who I really am. And sometimes that’s difficult to see.
The 5 people who ask me for change (which I never have as I do not carry cash) awaken a voice inside that tells me that I’m stingy, because though I could buy them a sandwich or coffee, I’d rather save that for myself when I’m in a pinch (‘poor’ college student). I become irritated that I’m forced to recall my own economic position every time I’m asked to help.
And those friendly strangers on the train remind me that despite my desire to be sociable and kind, I simply do not trust enough to comfortably share with them my name and a few simple interests.
Solution? Ear phones in, music on, Facebook browsed. I don’t have to risk temporarily connecting with anyone with my eyes, ears, or heart if I tune the world out and crawl within the virtual reality in the palm of my hand.
However, during the past few days of forcing myself out of my comfortable bubble of distraction, it’s simple to see that humans are extremely entertaining!
I have kept a list of “beautiful” things that I would have missed seeing, like the suited man, had I been on my phone.
Really, a majority of the beauty is in the laughter that the strange acts of my fellow humans provide—some real characters:
Like, the girl in the tie-dyed shirt, flare jeans, and an apparently very heavy backpack running with her arms flailing widely at her sides, her Rainbow sandals smacking and clacking on the ground;
Or the art student in the hallway stating to another, very seriously, “…and I also believe that dragons existed. Truly…” (University of Strange Characters);
And the woman who took two handfuls of complimentary butter mints at Chick-Fil-A and shoved them quickly into her purse.
Beyond these characters, there have also been moments of connection and warmth:
Like discussing ,diabetes in senior years, and having the confidence to tell the man who mentioned it’s all about the meds, that it is also very much about watching what you eat. “Ooo, girl, tell him twice! You tell him twice!”, his wife said.
Or, like watching the young man in a restaurant stand up and sing his girlfriend, “Ma Cherie Amour” backed by an instrumental track, while she playfully chastised him.
With today’s technology and how it is advancing, I wonder how long we’ll really fully appreciate human connection. Certainly, it will always be around, but communication between humans is undoubtedly evolving. I’m not sure it’s for the better, nor am I certain that it is for the worse. Yet ever since the day that I saw the film Her, I can’t help but examine the poignancy of that film and what It states about the direction in which we are headed in terms of our connections with personal electronic devices versus the connections we have with those immediately surrounding us.
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