Things change

There's been a lot in the media recently about how people are never alone anymore. The ubiquity of cell phones and other connected devices means people are never in a position of quiet solitude. And of course how this means the end of the world.  The reasons, about which they really can go on and on and on, is that the lack of any time for quiet solitude has been removed, and that therefore people will never get all the benefits that accrue from that. And most of that is mostly true.

The question really is does it matter? The answer to that is clearly, we have no idea. None, zip. Drawing conclusions when lacking perspective is a fool's business. One of the "scolds" who's article I read makes that point accidentally.

The historical comparison is usually the invention of the printing press, which changed access to written materials from the few to the many. He notes that compared to now, when smart phones and connected devices have become ubiquitous almost immediately, when Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 15th century, it took for centuries for much of the world to be literate. Okay, so one of the major consequences of the mission of the printing press was not really obvious for 400 years. And we presume to know what's going on with connected devices now? That's just plain silly.

There will clearly be negative consequences of all of this. It's rare that things happen where there are no negative consequences whatsoever. The important question really is how do we make sure that we minimize the negative consequences and maximize the positive consequences. That's the money shot.

My wife notes, as does one of the writers whose rankings I read, that we are the last of our generation to even be aware that this is a thing. Nobody born from the 1990's on will know that there was ever a time that not everybody was connected all the time. The kids in my classes can't even conceive of the world without plastic, which is most of history.

The point is that this is likely to not be the end of the world. Things will change, people will change, and yeah, the rapidity of the change makes the consequences less predictable. But so what? All we know is that this is happening. Quit whining and make the best of it.