The Red Owl

As I was hopping on the train this afternoon, I was greeted by the incessant chattering of teenagers. I wasn’t too fazed by this as it’s school holidays, so I expect them to start appearing in my normally high-school free life. What I did have trouble understanding was how any of them actually felt they were participating in a conversation when each one of them had an earphone in their ears.

I may be stretching it a bit – linking fashion to what seems a comment (read: rant) on modern society, but the truth is that iPod’s and MP3 players have become a staple of our outfits and an added accessory to the clothes we wear every single day. Be they metallic in colouring, small and square, or long and rectangular, they are matched and coordinated to suit the colour of the moment.

I enjoy my music probably more than the average person. I even succumbed to the temptation of owning an iPod. A pink one at that (however, to retain some credibility, it was bought as a present by somebody else). Even though it has been well on two years since I discarded the iPod (I like to think I got out early before the crazy invasion), I don’t remember ever listening to music and trying to talk to my friends or family at the same time. Sure I shared my earphones, but it was purely for the purpose of also sharing a song.

I feel exactly the same way about mobile phones. I detest talking on the phone when in a crowded train. I always have it on silent and I will only use it when I really need it. I don’t care if you have an iPhone or the newest Nokia and I certainly don’t care how polyphonic your new ringtone is.

There seems to be a great disconnectedness in a world becoming smaller each and every moment by all the connectivity of technology. The last stranger I had a conversation with was an elderly gentlemen named Ken who politely asked to sit down next to me on the train before continuing on with questions about what I do and who I am.

Recent social experiments, such as the Washington Post’s ‘Pearls Before Breakfast’ article, show how jaded and self-oriented we have become in a time when we should be uniting to protest against racism, discrimination and illegal wars.

We truly are in state of apathy and disconnectedness if spell-check recognises words such as “iPod” and “Nokia”.