“When I say it’s you I like, I’m talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see or hear or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive. Love that conquers hate, peace that rises triumphant over war, and justice that proves more powerful than greed.”
― Fred Rogers
Today my internet crashed. It is been two hours by now. I do not mean no Wi-Fi; I mean no internet at all. I cannot even remember the last time something like this happened.
I was home, working, when it happened. At first, I thought my router was striking again, but after numerous attempts to reset it I decided to use my phone to see if I could solve the problem. “No internet” the screen said. This is odd I thought. I wanted to google if my internet provider was having any problems but… you know. I decided to call. The bot on the phone told me that there could be delays because of the weather, which is stupid because it is not even raining yet. And a slow connection is something entirely different than no connection.
Strange situation. The world could be going down and I would not even notice. Separated from society in the middle of the city. Good thing I made plans for later. For the moment I choose to do the dishes, vacuum the apartment, clean the kitchen floor and what the hell, I even went downstairs to throw away the trash. It was still half past 11 am but it was acceptable enough to eat lunch and read a book. After I finished lunch and the book, I sat for a while at the table and looked out the window. Still a little nervous about my destroyed plans (I hate when that happens) I wondered how much I could accomplish without the internet. I have become so addicted by now without even realising it. The endless scrolling through my Insta feed, the constant distractions when I just want to check my emails, the never-ending offer of tv shows and movies one can binge watch at any hour of day or night. So much wasted time. Sure, one cannot forget the positive sides of the internet but lately it seems like people are destroying it. As they do with everything. The wave of adds which a few years ago could be easily escaped by switching off the TV is now drowning us without us noticing because it now looks so bright and shining. People trying to protect us have made the surfing experience very tiring and foremost the companies wanting to feed on our data; checking every movement, have finally killed the excitement we had for new technologies.
Is it human nature or just wrong upbringing? It is still unclear why we cannot just be nice to each other, work together for the advance of humankind.
We still hang onto old structures, way of living that are not suited for the world we live in. They must change, adapt to survive. How long do we want to struggle with things we brought onto ourselves? How long do we keep telling our children the world cannot be changed just because it is easier to sit back and stare at a stupid screen? How long are we going to sacrifice each other for money? For paper that has only value if we let it. We could all do what we really want to if machines would do all the other jobs for us and we could all just go get the food, that is there. What are we afraid of?
Aromatic deception 