Constantly Connected, All Over the World

Not only are we constantly connected, but we’re widely connected. Not to hate on Lady Gaga, but her biggest contribution to my life was made possible through the very wide-spread use of technology and the internet.

This hilarious video highlights our ability to be constantly connected. (A parody of a song about being constantly connected, made possible by being constantly connected!) The men depicted are on active duty, stationed in Afganistan. This is perhaps one of the most inaccessible (to outside communication) positions on earth, and yet they are still in a position to watch music videos, video themselves, compile and edit the video, and distribute it! It is truly amazing!

I won’t say anything about the time this takes away from their other duties… Or maybe it’s great for morale? Whatever the case, these Army personnel are now able to be a part of mainstream society in a way that was completely unthinkable just a few short years ago. Now they’re stars, when in yesteryear, their only ways to reach the outside world would have been directly to a loved-one (letter, phone call), or as part of a propaganda/media initiative controlled by the “higher-ups” in the Army and politics.

These Army personnel now have almost as much societal freedom as you or I. Technology makes their lives more normal in an otherwise un-normal situation. I didn’t think of this until just now, but I wonder if this affects their adjustment in coming back home. Comments are welcome, and think of this: the more normal creepy is, the creepier normal is.

Talk to the Handsfree

The photo above is a link to a recording of my senior project at UCLA, an interpretive dance about my addiction to my cell phone. The project was based on my senior thesis, titled "Talk To The Handsfree," and expanded upon the ways in which long distance relationships affect our short distance relationships with the people around us.

The first ten seconds of the video was a prank played on the audience. After the curtains opened and shortly before the lights went up, I asked all of the performers to whip out their cell phones to check the time or for text messages and missed calls. Sure enough, one of my professors who had sat in the house with the rest of the audience informed me later on that over half the audience had done the same thing and it took them a few moments to look up from their own phones to see that we were mocking them.

The first section of the performance was a joke about the awkwardness of being in such close proximity to other bodies (i.e. when we are in a crowded elevator). My theory was that we have grown quite bad at socializing with neighbors or making new friends quickly because cell phones and wi-fi allow us to take the comfort of our already-made-friends and family with us wherever we go; whereas before these techological developments, we may have been forced to form new relationships. But then again, perhaps I'm wrong, and we've always been awkward with face to face interactions.

The rest of the project comments on our relationships to and through our cell phones, automated voice messaging and automated responses (i.e. "lol" and "omg"), multi-tasking, being in multiple places at once, and so on. I like to leave room for interpretation of course.