Technobabble

The primary function of new technology is to make something (presumably) easier, better, faster, or some combination of these.

For example, not everyone has to be physically in the office to have a productive workday. You can make a phone call or send an email from anywhere on the planet that is within range of a cellular tower (if you have the right equipment). With a computer and an internet connection, maybe even a VPN, many could do their entire job in their pjs.

There is a downside to amazing technology. You grow dependent upon it. Spell check has made me a little dumber when left on my own with nothing but a pen and paper. Sometimes I prefer sending an email to calling someone, but that mostly comes down to time. Which, point of fact, is another thing that technology is supposed to do: save us time.

With all the communication technology available, why are so many people still packed in rush hour, hurrying to get to an office we supposedly don't need to occupy? That's probably another post, but the point I'm trying to get to has to do with this social experiment.

So how do we use all the time we're supposedly saving? Well, apparently we're not using it to unplug, relax, feed our souls, smell roses, or listen to beautiful music in a subway.

There are a thousand ways to analyze the results of this experiment. The one I'm going to mention here is that it appears to me that most people are ingrained with the motto "there is a time and a place." A premier musician playing cherished pieces is for Carnegie Hall and the like, not a busy metro. It's likely that many of those who passed him by would have been seated, appropriately full of awe and admiration, at one of his concerts.

I don't think it's necessarily that our society has ceased to love music or enjoy beautiful things, but we are addicted to our plans. If it's not on the itinerary, it's in the way of something that is. So I guess it's that unplanned, spontaneous beauty is second to a scheduled appointment.

It's also likely that if our premier musician had revealed himself, he would have had a bigger audience since most mere mortals can't resist a celebrity sighting. Incognito, he's a bum with a violin.