Despite all evidence proving otherwise, I sometimes get the feeling time is entirely sporadic and unstable in nature.
It was the first week of September just last week, and only minutes ago I was complaining about my first midterms of the quarter (which, I feel the need to point out, hardly ever arrive mid-term). And mere seconds after completing those midterms, I was bombarded with review sheets for next week.
My theory is that time does not fly - it jumps.
Likewise, this quarter leapt out of my control and I've been forced to face its conclusion. I can't say I'm pleased; I've loved every second of those 15 total minutes in which the quarter passed.
So, for my last nerdy topic, I would like to discuss time.
Although I'm sure that becoming some sort of adult may have played a sufficient part in this, I feel time has sped up exponentially since I began relying on digital media for communication, homework, work, etc.
As a society, we are becoming capable of filling every second of every minute of every hour with activity. However, much of this activity is intellectual (not to imply it's educational, however) and we are becoming restless. At least I know I am. We are training to be Olympic-level multi-taskers, be it in terms of juggling homework with homework, research with infotainment or procrastination with procrastination.
Although it's questionable where all of this filled-in time goes (unless you're using the MeeTimer for Firefox, of course), it appears we programmed ourselves to handle our real lives through the Internet as much as we learned to live for the Internet.
If you ever had someone pop open Facebook in the middle of an in-person conversation or heard the infamous AIM notification bing while on the other end of a phone line, you know what I'm talking about.
It becomes hard to seize the day when we are faster seized by the handful of electronic devices containing our office work, homework and entertainment. No matter how occupied or entertained they let us feel, they are no substitute for the real world.
The carpe diem mind set can be tarnished by the misguided notion that social networking qualifies as person-to-person conversation, that perusing blogs qualifies as leisure reading and that watching video after video on YouTube qualifies as movie night.
Worse yet, as we further blur the work-play line, we begin to slip procrastination and distraction in places where they've never been before. This is especially common for people who use Twitter, Web-surf and sleep next to their always-onCrackBerry for a living.
We must again draw the line between reality and technology. But let's not draw it with a .5-point-thick InDesign tool. Let's make it bold, and with a thick piece of chalk, out in the concrete world.
At least for the first few days of summer, I hope that each of us can ignore this guilt of being outside the online social circle and away from rapid-fire flow of information. We must learn to close off those abstract processes and take in the physical world. We must give priority to the activities, people and entertainment that await us out there before we are left without such opportunities. And we must learn to appreciate time spent both purposelessly and inefficiently before we forget we still can.
After all, if we keep filling every second with artificial reality, we may as well leap right ahead into The Matrix. Coming to a summer near you: The red pill.
On that note...
Reader, it's been an immense pleasure talking nerdy to you.
Wishing you the best in your Web-based and life-based interactions,
Olga.
4 Opinion
Olga Kharitonova
