A party made for one

A PARTY MADE FOR ONE

I have never been one to rely on technology, basically what I am saying is that I have never been able to operate half of it and therefore use it minimally. At least that’s what I thought until Saturday night.

My family and I participated in earth hour. After turning off our lights, we lit candles and enjoyed the warm glow that reflected onto our faces and the walls around us. Its like we were kids again, anticipating what adventures this long hour of darkness might bring as it restricted us from using our televisions and computers and Playstation games. This time however, it felt different. The room was silent; our movements limited; our arising boredom evident. From brief looks at the time on our IPhone’s, to talking about the latest applications available we were all surfing the internet and playing various games in the touch of a second, oblivious to the fact that we were missing the idea of earth hour all together.

Over the years it seems I have become unaware to how reliant I have become on technology. When I eventually managed to pull my head away from my Ebook library (an application allowing me to download any novel in the world and access it on my phone), it occurred to me that technology devices- such as the IPhone and Blackberry Smartphone’s- create endless possibilities that wouldn’t be possible in real life. In this darkened room with no electricity, my mother was able to bake, my brother able to fish- and actually catch something for that matter- and my dad able to instant chat with his brother who lives on the other side of the world. Although entertaining, does this social environment not withdrawal us from our family and the real world?

Of course it does, this virtual world seems to be providing more opportunities than the real world, however in all that time not a word was shared between us. Ultimately the term ‘virtual’ should be renamed silent as should ‘internet’ be renamed alone because that’s exactly what it is. A party made for one.