World Change

How the world has changed.

Today I had a conversation in Spanish. I have never spoken Spanish in my life before, never taken any classes and don’t understand a single thing about the language or culture at all.

So how is such an amazing feat even possible?

Modern technology.

When Douglas Adams wrote The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, he probably had no idea that someone (well, plural really) would take his idea of the Babel Fish and create a program around it. I suppose with the book having a somewhat science fiction theme he wouldn’t be too surprised about it.

For those of you who don’t know, a Babel Fish in the book was literally a small fish that you would put in your ear and you would be able to understand any language. In the real world however such a small and wonderful fish does not exist but should you Google Babel Fish an array of options will appear. They are simple programs where you type in what you want to say, select the language you want to say it in and hit the “translate” button.

Before you know it, you’ll be having a conversation with a complete stranger in an unknown language. The unfortunate thing is that this doesn’t happen in real life when you are face to face with a stranger speaking a different language.

Google it! A term we all use so often. If you want to find out about something you don’t know, for example Spain and its cultures, well then Google it. This is another phrase that would have made absolutely no sense just a few years ago. I suppose “encyclopaedia it” wouldn’t have made much sense either.

A status update – a what? Isn’t this something your parents did at work, or something? Surely it is not an everyday, if not hourly or less, activity of millions of people all around the world.

What about instant messaging, more commonly known as IM. No more waiting for weeks for a letter to come in the post. Just pop online, or whip out your phone, and you have instant contact with those near and dear to you who live all over the world.

The world definitely has become a smaller, stranger place. We live in a world of science fiction. A mere decade ago none of this would make sense and it would be only in the imaginations of fiction writers and the young inventors who had just a mere spark of an idea that will one day be a reality.

We live in this wonderful world but there is one small catch.

The human connection. We all still have people in our lives and we spend time with them so we are not completely lost but there is something that is almost lacking. There is so much technology between us. It is just easier to communicate that way, but sometimes we loose a little perspective. This week was a perfect example.

Blackberry went down for two / three days. No BBM (Blackberry messenger) no mobile instant internet. We were left with sms and phone calls. Honestly who calls anyone these days, it’s such a hassle and much easier to type a quick message and send it.

My two closest friends live overseas, it was my birthday and I felt so incredibly isolated. If I didn’t have a separate broadband bundle through my service provider and downloaded apps such as Google chat, I would have been completely lost.

All this technology in our lives really made me think this week. We have all come so far, technologically evolved yet we have gone backwards too, losing a bit of what makes us human.

This realisation is not a new one. Scientists are hired to run studies to see to what point technology has actually affected us.

I’m not one to judge, I won’t give up any of the above any time soon. Lying in my pj’s, having a conversation with a friend in France or a stranger in Spain is truly an amazing gift, though I think this weekend I might just play possum (or at least attempt to, for a few hours). I’m going to put away all my gadgets and spend some time being a human being, and spend time with other people, face to face not screen to screen.

Maybe I’ll even read a book.