In these days of connectivity and virtual frequentation, many tangible, concrete activities are replaced by virtual equivalents. Screens, headphones and haptic systems act as relays between our senses and the world. Electronic filters sift reality into standard, global formats.
Since the telegraph (1840), the telephone (1876), wireless telegraphy (1896), radio (1920) and television (1926), more of our attention has been captured with each innovation. Today, with the Internet, satellites, 5G and social networks, we've reached a whole new level: it's no longer minutes but hours that are absorbed by electronic media. We can find out everything about our relations on the other side of the world and what's going on in the universe... but little about our neighbors, whose interest seems insignificant compared with the variety and quality of what's on offer. We share our daily lives and even our imaginations with thousands of people and machines.
Systematically fed by our interactions, online services and networks are becoming more monopolizing than ever. In return, they offer us what satisfies, pleases or is useful to us. Services so effective that the majority of people we meet in public spaces are now connected either to headphones or to their phones, often to both, and soon via their glasses. Absent, evading gaze, busy with..., no possibility of contact. They are elsewhere. If they're suffering from loneliness, they won't find anyone to listen to them anyway, unless they're connected. An A.I. may even sympathize with their situation, all in a dizzying VVCV (Vicious and Virtuous Virtual Circle).
To truly meet in cafés or free meeting places, some form of disconnection from the network is required. As a result, new disconnection protocols are beginning to emerge as rules of etiquette and behavior, starting in schools. Regulated meeting places are appearing, new ways of making contacts are being created, and new social activities are being proposed to bring us back into the real world.
Let's take a look at what's happening.
Denys Lamontagne
Illustration - Shutterstock - 2603311253
