My So-Called Life
Yesterday I visited our local library aka “the place with free internet”. My usual routine is to head for the New Books shelves first which are now pathetically “decorated” with books, displayed sparingly with their covers facing the patron since there are, well, very few actual books at all. I counted 19 in New Books – Nonfiction. Nineteen. Yeesh.
However, I did find a newly published brain book and snatched it up (that leaves 18). It’s called “Brain Bugs: How the Brain’s Flaws Shape Our Lives” by Dean Buonomano. Here’s a nugget from the Introduction:
Although we currently inhabit a time and place we were not programmed to live in, the set of instructions written down in our DNA on how to build a brain are same as they were – 100,000 years ago. Which raises the question, to what extent is the neural operating system established by evolution well tuned for the digital, predator-free, sugar-abundant, special-effects-filled, antibiotic-laden, media-saturated densely populated world we have managed to build for ourselves?
This got me to thinking about wha I miss most – and what I don’t miss – as a digital immigrant from the old days, pre-webtellictual way of life…
What I Don’t Miss:
Having to stop at pay phones at sketchy gas stations
Not having caller ID (BIG time saver!)
Forced interaction with customer sales people
The Encyclopedia Britannica
White-out
What I Miss:
Being unavailable
Eye contact with strangers or with known people under age 35
Voice inflection with above
Time spent between hearing ring tones (yours and others)
Cursive handwriting
Stationary
Books on public library shelves
Ms. Pat!
This is a great post. Loved it.
See you soon.
Brain buggin’,
Michael