Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

COLUMN: Life ex machina
By: Andrew Swift
The Daily Iowan (U. Iowa)
06/11/2007

(U-WIRE) IOWA CITY, Iowa — My friend and I recently battled with a pair of Sony earphones for 45 whole minutes. The problem: We couldn't figure out how to wear them. The dastardly things, vaguely resembling iPod ear buds with wings, sparked numerous profanities from our mouths. It was a rather embarrassing scene. Two 22-year-old men, each well-versed in headphone use, completely befuddled by a $20 product.

Technology is supposed to make life easier. But somehow, the machines that were created with the intention of making life more pleasurable and easier now frustrate us and occupy all of our time. They're supposed to alleviate stress and give us more opportunities to do things that are worthwhile - spending time with family and friends, reading a good book, exercising, or what have you. Instead, life has become a constant battle to reign supreme over computers, copy machines, and televisions.

Whether scientific progress is occurring at an unusually rapid pace is up for debate. Every generation tends to think its experiences are so much different from anything that has ever happened before. But it certainly seems that in the early 21st century, advances in technology are happening fast.

Even more so, the spread of these achievements is reaching all parts of society extremely quickly. Personal computers only came into vogue in the last two decades, and now nearly everyone in the country has access to one.

Movies like to frighten us into thinking machines will become so independent and powerful that one day they will wipe out humanity. That's probably not going to happen any time soon; rarely are matters so impossibly bad.

Besides, their greatest nemesis is now the governor of California, so we should be fine.

But those movies are partially right. The future Hollywood catastrophe is today's boring reality. Technology is evolving faster than humanity, thanks, of course, to a little intelligent design. We now spend every waking minute fiddling with one or another toy; indeed, we devote ourselves to the machine.

Humans have always compared themselves with others and continuously hunted for a greater amount of "stuff." In 2007, we use myriad phones, iPods, computers, etc, to assess the lives of others. Having inferior products now translates into having an inferior life.

Size does matter — but who knew it was hard-drive size?

Devices are now part of one's style: It's wholly possible to match color of iPod with clothing. Only 15 years ago, cell phones were the ugliest and bulkiest thing imaginable. We have "Saved by the Bell" DVDs to remind us of this. But now, the hunt for a thinner, sexier cell phone, with ever more features, has become the quest for the Holy Grail.

It can get preposterous fast. On Saturday, while writing at Java House, I wandered by a woman making a phone call, her other ear covered by a headphone, while working on her laptop. The scene was frightening. It was as if the machines had taken over her brain and demanded that she spend every second of her life worshipping the battery-powered devices.

Thankfully, the exasperation caused by the aforementioned pair of heathen Sony ear buds isn't very serious. It's unlikely they're going to develop rocket launchers or machine guns and suddenly desire to destroy anyone listening to lame music.

The UK Ministry of Defense does operate a Skynet satellite system, though.

The frustration they provoke is very real. It's maddening when a wireless signal goes in and out or an iPod sadistically displays the skull and crossbones of death. It does almost seem that they have a mind of their own and that their sole desire is to drive humans insane. Our reliance on high-tech devices leaves us at their mercy. The prevalence of Facebook requests for lost cell-phone numbers shows we couldn't possibly exist without gadgets and gizmos.

Thankfully, the wise developers of Nintendo's Wii are leading the counterattack. During load screens, the Wii suggests users take a break and go outside. It's a sad tale when the developers of a video-game console find it necessary to build in these reminders, lest users forget there is an outside.

I'm not advocating that you become a Luddite. Unless you're planning on going into hiding, it's best not to turn off the cell phone for good and refuse to answer e-mails. But the rise of the machines is here.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go drool at iPhones on the Internet.

E-mail DI columnist Andrew Swift at: andrew-swift@uiowa.edu.

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