Technological Solipsism
My guitar is officially up for sale... and I'm nervously awaiting even a single genuine caller.
I seriously doubt it. Maybe because it is the beginning of a new year, but there seem to be an awful lot of second-hand guitars for sale in Guitarist magazine this month. And after my experience with Frank the Fraudster, I hold out no hope. It's not just that people are dishonest, but the age of the innernet seems to have made more people think they can get away with being dishonest - all these secret online identities make them feel like spooks. It's as if they think that because they don't really exist, then nothing matters. It encourages a kind of solipsism that people transfer into their everyday lives.
Like with mobile phones. You know that thing that happens nowadays, when someone will be standing in front of you talking about something, and their mobile goes off, so they answer it, even though you're in the middle of a conversation with them? Because the virtual person on the end of the virtual line is considerably more real to them than the real person standing in front.
I've even seen it with email, where you can be standing at someone's desk talking about something, and they'll get an email and have to read it straight away, especially if it is trivial and unimportant. I think I'm the only person I know who will push the "no calls" button on the phone if it rings while I'm talking to someone. But then I've always hated talking on the phone.
I was watching Clarkson talking about the phone last night on BBC2, which is why I think of it. Do I have a mobile? I have B's old one in the glovebox of the car, because it has about a fiver's worth of credit on it. But the display on it doesn't work properly, so it's not really useable. If I ever get around to using it, and it runs out of credit, I'll throw it away. The older I get, the more unreachable I like to be. Nobody wants to call me anyway. I'm too grumpy.
I seriously doubt it. Maybe because it is the beginning of a new year, but there seem to be an awful lot of second-hand guitars for sale in Guitarist magazine this month. And after my experience with Frank the Fraudster, I hold out no hope. It's not just that people are dishonest, but the age of the innernet seems to have made more people think they can get away with being dishonest - all these secret online identities make them feel like spooks. It's as if they think that because they don't really exist, then nothing matters. It encourages a kind of solipsism that people transfer into their everyday lives.
Like with mobile phones. You know that thing that happens nowadays, when someone will be standing in front of you talking about something, and their mobile goes off, so they answer it, even though you're in the middle of a conversation with them? Because the virtual person on the end of the virtual line is considerably more real to them than the real person standing in front.
I've even seen it with email, where you can be standing at someone's desk talking about something, and they'll get an email and have to read it straight away, especially if it is trivial and unimportant. I think I'm the only person I know who will push the "no calls" button on the phone if it rings while I'm talking to someone. But then I've always hated talking on the phone.
I was watching Clarkson talking about the phone last night on BBC2, which is why I think of it. Do I have a mobile? I have B's old one in the glovebox of the car, because it has about a fiver's worth of credit on it. But the display on it doesn't work properly, so it's not really useable. If I ever get around to using it, and it runs out of credit, I'll throw it away. The older I get, the more unreachable I like to be. Nobody wants to call me anyway. I'm too grumpy.
posted by Anonymous at
Friday, February 06, 2004
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