Torch, Spring/Summer 2011

10 TORCH | Spring–Summer 2011 process helps explain why the digital world brings a feeling of dysphoria — a mild feeling of depression that is, she says, one of the digital world’s “most controversial side effects.” For all of the connectedness the merger of computers, telecommunications, and the media provides, there is also a sense of dis connectedness. While there is much we may gain, there is also much we may lose. This concept of loss provides us with some insights on the ways in which our dominant media environment affects the way we experience leisure and rest. Loss of Presence Although these media channels have the benefit of connecting us with events and people from almost anywhere in the world, they also allow us to withdraw from those with whom we are physically present. This is nothing new, of course. The caricature of the husband at the breakfast table who isolates himself from his wife by hiding behind a newspaper has long been with us. But there is no doubt that the movement of a personal communication device, the telephone, into public space has changed the social dynamic. Our lives are dominated by three screens: television, computer, and handheld, which includes cell phones and other mobile devices. Although these screens share similarities (and are increasingly converging), they are used differently. Media researchers have categorized these as “lean back” and “lean forward” media. Television is a “lean back” medium, one we tend to use passively. The computer and handheld devices are “lean forward” media, requiring attention and engagement. Let’s take another look at the family in the restaurant. The dad watching TV is engaged in a “lean back” activity, while the mom on her phone and children with their games are involved in “lean forward” activities. But whether the involvement is passive or active, the effect these screens have in a social setting is the same: we withdraw from active engagement with our companions, essentially defining them as secondary as we shift our attention away from them. Now that wireless broadband connections can stream high-resolution movies, videos, and TV programs on our media-enabled phones, we have even more potential to disconnect from those around us. One cell phone provider’s commercials promote the idea that when you’re caught waiting in a crowd, the solution is to watch a movie on your cell phone rather than talk to the person beside you. Loss of Meaning With our three screens providing constant access to unlimited information, it seems ironic to suggest that we are in what author Bill McKibben calls “the age of missing information.” He wrote, “We believe we live in the ‘age of information,’ that there has been an information ‘explosion.’ While in a certain narrow sense this is the case, in many important ways just the opposite is true. We also live at a moment of deep ignorance, when vital knowledge that humans have always possessed about who we are and where we live seems beyond our reach. An Unenlightenment.” McKibben notes that “vital knowledge” is still available; it simply has been overwhelmed by the constant flow of nonessential information. An example from his book The Age of Missing Information helps make his point: “On Good Morning America , they’re interviewing Teddy Kollek, the mayor of Jerusalem, who is saying a few interesting things about a recent visit from Václav Havel. But as soon as he’s finished, or maybe slightly before, the host is saying, ‘Mr. Mayor — always outspoken, always feisty, always good to see you. How to prepare for a record invasion of gypsy moths that may be coming when Good Morning America continues.’ If the only TV you heard all day was this five-minute talk with Teddy Kollek, it might linger in your mind — you could mull it over. But it’s instantly replaced by a man who’s talking about egg masses and how a female gypsy moth resembles a 747.”