Email, I.M., Blackberry? Screw it, let's go burn one...

This may be the single best piece of writing I have read in a long time. As one who suffers from the current Catch-22 between gadget mania and the desire for a "deeper existence" I completely comprehend this issue of Future Schlock (this link is not just for show; following it leads you to a second extraordinary piece on this issue). For those who don't wish to read the article in its entirety, here are some high points...

The Main Idea:

Infomania makes us dumber. Slower. Dimmer. Make a note of it. Write it on a
Post-it and stick it on your monitor right now and stare at it like a mantra and
then vow to yank the cables out of your brain and get outside and play with the
dog and read more big thick books full of polysyllabic words and complex
sentence structures and then, oh yes, be sure to smoke more pot because hey, it
sure as hell ain't as bad for you as e-mailing like a maniac all day.

Why?

All we are now is more adept at allusion, at skimming like lightning over the
surface of things, at referencing the world more deftly, while comprehending it
less. We can quick-link and cross-text and multi-chat while at the same time
remaining blissfully ignorant of how these very info tools are quietly
destroying that all-important human skill, that slower, longer, often far more
subtle and difficult art called deeper understanding, and if you've lately been
anywhere near a roomful of teenagers, you understand this phenom perfectly.

Teens you say...

But then you hear them speak. They you hear them try to form a complete sentence
about an actual subject of interest and struggle to form a single nuanced and
careful thought that has nothing to do with what was on the WB or what video
they just watched on their PSP or what their friend just text-messaged them on
their Nokia

And so...

Maybe we need to start looking at our info lust as merely yet another
addiction, a narcotic, a happy necessary globally hailed universally embraced
drug. E-mail as mental tranquilizer, intellectual emetic, Zoloft for the wired
masses.

That being said, I just got a new cell phone and will be reviewing its features and other refinements within the next couple of days...