The Cost of all Those Gadgets
Wired News has launched a new curmudgeon’s column by their chief copy editor, Tony Long, about the dark side of technology. Read it and see if you don’t agree with what he sees as some of the downsides to our growing dependency on devices and virtual drivers that are now thoroughly soaked into our social fabric. I must admit that some of the modern advances he cites have made it possible for me to work for years now from the comfort of home and from the harsh climate and hard commuter life of New England. It’s allowed me to keep in closer touch with far-flung family and friends, too.
But in reading Long’s inaugural rant, I also realize that one of the main attractions of running, for me at least, is complete release from those digital accoutrements. Granted, I run with a multipurpose Timex watch, heart rate monitor and, on Sunday mornings, an MP3 player occasionally tuned to a podcast. The blogosphere, and those of us obsessed with reading other people’s personal journals, is another example. We runners are made better by training vicariously alongside others in pursuit of personal records. Non-runners get a more intimate glimpse of what makes us tick. But at the end of the day, when I reflect on the highlights, it’s the movement -- sans technology -- along a quiet neighborhood or dusty trail that I typically remember most fondly. And I remember those moments, in part, because there were no digital distractions.
But in reading Long’s inaugural rant, I also realize that one of the main attractions of running, for me at least, is complete release from those digital accoutrements. Granted, I run with a multipurpose Timex watch, heart rate monitor and, on Sunday mornings, an MP3 player occasionally tuned to a podcast. The blogosphere, and those of us obsessed with reading other people’s personal journals, is another example. We runners are made better by training vicariously alongside others in pursuit of personal records. Non-runners get a more intimate glimpse of what makes us tick. But at the end of the day, when I reflect on the highlights, it’s the movement -- sans technology -- along a quiet neighborhood or dusty trail that I typically remember most fondly. And I remember those moments, in part, because there were no digital distractions.
