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OPINION: Lessons an iPhone can't teachJul 12, 2009 (The Commercial Appeal - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- While on vacation, my 1974 motorboat gave out. A kindly couple in a much newer pontoon boat volunteered to tow my guests and the boat back to its slip. Then, wading in waist-deep water, I wrestled the relic onto a trailer so I could get it to a repair shop. Only later did I reach deep into a dripping pocket of my shorts to retrieve my now soggy, ruined iPhone. Right then, far from home in a place with no wireless hotspots, I lost my digital link to the outside world. No cell phone. No Yahoo! e-mail access. No Google. For most of a week I simply didn't know, instantly, what was happening. I totally missed Michael Jackson's funeral. I had no idea that Zach Randolph and Allen Iverson could be coming to the Memphis Grizzlies. I didn't realize Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton had tried to rescind his letter of resignation. Spending a week without a digital tether reminded me of some truths that often get obscured when you live surrounded by a sea of timely updates, tweets and text messages. For one, the world actually moves at its own pace, not at cyber speed. When you don't have a BlackBerry, an iPhone or a laptop within reach, other slow-life options open up right away. A book, for example, suddenly seems more compelling. Here are three to consider if you find yourself away from your electronic lifeline: -- "Olive Kitteridge" by Elizabeth Strout: A rich, involved and compelling series of stories told about a woman's life and her life in a town with others. Let the e-mail slide and read this Pulitzer Prize-winner instead. -- "March" by Geraldine Brooks: A moving and imaginative take on the Civil War and how that time in America affected lives both North and South. -- "Mr. Pip" by Lloyd Jones: The story will inspire every adult who has longed to educate and engage young people about the larger world. A book, a real book, can fill the void left when busy fingers can't search online. And instead of looking down at your tiny screen, did you bother to look up last week at the largest, brightest full moon of the year? Of course digital technology and the social networking that comes with it have huge advantages compared to the days when we simply wrote letters, talked on the phone or visited relatives in person. It's much easier to do all the interfacing on the Internet. But without that crutch, here was another truth that is too often forgotten. Life existed before Facebook. Real life, in fact, goes on all around us -- without much thought being given to battery life. Children are being born. People are getting married. Friends and families shine with pride as they share successes. People laugh. People cry. People live. People die. The essential ingredients of lives being lived really haven't changed all that much simply because we have a faster Internet connection. That's what the week without digital toys taught me. Yes, the communication tools available today allow us to comment instantly, to think out loud, to jump to conclusions about almost everything. Yet we still confuse, sometimes, the speed of our digital world with the notion that human nature changes quickly, too. We should know better. A 3G network may be fast and new. A three-generation family is old and slow to change. Returning to Memphis, I caught up on the news. And I saw more examples of how the urge to be fast sometimes doesn't work out as well as you had hoped. I regret now getting caught up in the moment a couple of weeks ago and praising Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton's announcement that he was going to resign. Remember that day? He seemed to have done it right when he stepped to the microphone and the TV cameras and bloggers were on hand. Because events of that day were going to be instantly broadcast, e-mailed and commented upon, it seemed only right to offer up a quick commentary and judgment. That's what the world of instant communication both allows and expects. Say it now. Get the word out. Offer a comment. The mayor's departure didn't turn out to be a smooth goodbye. The forces of politics and personality all proved more powerful than an instant assessment and a fast digital message. This is what I took away from a week without my iPhone. Better to wait, sometimes, and see how things work out. Better not to send that top-of-mind comment via e-mail or text. Better to remember that while information can change quickly, human nature doesn't. And always, it's best to listen to the little voice in your head that asks: Have you checked your pockets before you go into the water? Chris Peck is editor of The Commercial Appeal. Contact him at 529-2390 or at [email protected]. To see more of The Commercial Appeal or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.commercialappeal.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |