A few days ago I was having a conversation with a close friend from Estonia who was in the middle of a trip to North Carolina. I’m calling from Eastern Europe with a crystal clear connection made possible by the wonders of modern technology – specifically our laptops, fast wireless internet and Skype.
After a conversational journey that visited many places, we came to the conclusion that our laptops are one of our best friends. They are our constant companions and we both wondered how we managed before they came into our lives. For both us the computer is our main tool for work, communication, entertainment (films, TV shows, music, internet), shopping and our connection to a very broad and diverse community. More than this, we have a closer ‘relationship’ with them than with most human beings.
Could it be love?
Consider the following symptoms (please note, I’m going to refer to my computer as ‘her’, purely for cheap, dramatic effect):
- First thing I do in the morning is to turn her on
- I gaze at her all day long
- I’m regularly checking for messages from her
- Meals are less important than a little longer with her
- If we’re parted for more than 10 minutes, I get nervous
- My fingers run lovingly over her keys, almost a caress
- I feel lost without her
- I sometimes lay in bed with her on top of me.
Doesn’t that sound a lot like being in love? Or, even more alarmingly, an addiction? Or at the very least, early signs of insanity?
I did a quick search for ‘computer addiction’ (Google, of course!) and all I found was some stuff on online gaming, gambling, social networking or pornography. Some ‘experts’ even doubted that these are ‘real’ addictions (whatever that means!). I’ve managed to resist these, but what about addiction to the computer itself? My extensive research (well, ok … it was 5 minutes!) didn’t produce any information on this kind of addiction.
I’m kind of half joking, but this is, in fact, serious stuff. When spending time with my computer starts to be more attractive than being with real, flesh and blood people then something’s going seriously wrong.
Am I the only one? Should I worry about it?
I’d like to get some perspective before it goes too far and I do some damage to myself. In the interests of all of us computer addicts I would like to remind myself that this inanimate object sitting on my lap right now, is a tool and a machine. It is designed to be in the service of my needs, not the other way round. It’s NOT a friend. It doesn’t care about me any more than my kettle does. It is totally incapable of love. For that matter, it has no capacity for any emotion whatsoever. It has no soul, no personality, no creativity, no intelligence (though it is excellent at impersonating these).
In short … it has no LIFE.
There! I’ve said it and I feel better already. Next step is to get back in contact with all those people I’ve alienated with months of “sorry, not tonight, I’ve got some ‘work’ to do”. Now, where’s my Outlook contact list ….?
