It strikes me as I happen upon St. Elmo’s Fire, the 1985 coming-of-age picture: They lived in a world that doesn’t exist anymore. I notice things that just wouldn’t happen today. Jules sits in a bar stirring her drink with a plastic straw, thinking about her life. Kevin and Kirby have a long exchange in their apartment about life and love. Billy is uninterrupted when he swoops in with the makeshift blowtorch to rescue Jules from her self-imposed drama. I am reminded of a time where the daily human experience was not hijacked by a handheld device. Because today we are like children with a new toy, so easily distracted by blinking lights, simple tunes and buzzing sounds; possessed by a new world order that presumes constant interruption and fosters mutual intrusion.


thenewgreen:

You will never see someone sitting at a bar, alone with their thoughts under the age of 30. Therein lies the enormous appeal of the smartphone, we are seemingly never alone. Which makes it less likely for someone to sit next to us and strike up a conversation. Which perpetuates our actual loneliness.


posted 3180 days ago