illustration by Dave Plunket in NYT 8.8.10
From all those people looking into screens rather than ahead, around, behind them, we can conclude that something superior is right there on the screen. Why would any dumb text message seem more interesting than real life?
Gary Shteyngart’s publicity is turned up way high, but everything I’ve read about him and by him is wonderful, so soon I”ll tuck into the terribly named Super Sad True Love Story. As soon as I finish reading Moon and Six Pence for my book group.
I loved the review (Michael Wood) and the accompanying illustration. Screens have indeed hijacked our eyeballs. (Speaking of which, around 1995, I made some stupid quote about the NFL owning everyone’s eyeballs, and it keep turning up on blogs as if I said it yesterday. It’s 15 years ago! Cut me some slack!) But I was playing around with Sky Watch and Layar this weekend and beginning to get what augmented reality may bring us. I was going across the Great South Bay on my way to Fire Island, and right there on my iPhone, there was Wikipedia telling me about Saltaire. Of course, to miss a second of the actual joy of SEEING Saltaire from the ferry is sad.
So, the usual ambivalence about how technology enhances and reduces our life.