Maybe we're not as different as we think we are.
I'd even go so far as to say we have more in common than any of us even realize any more. We live in a culture of increased comfort, increased choices, and increased convenience. While these are all benefits they all have come at some rather hefty opportunity costs-- the largest of these I'd argue are increased divisiveness and seclusion. The technology that has brought the world closer to us is also the world that is de-humanizing our neighbors, its driving wedges between us.
Think about it... Before cable there were 3 major networks, PBS, and a handful of "superstations" (WPIX and WWOR out of NYC and WGN out of Chicago for example) broadcasting out of major urban areas. Most people who owned TVs, if they were lucky, got maybe 10-12 channels. Many only got the 3 major networks and a nearby PBS affiliate... 4 channels. That means the chances that we and our neighbors were watching the same show on any given night was substantially greater than it is today. That created a commonality of experience and that commonality of experience was a uniting force of sorts. Who cares if our neighbor's politics differed from ours, we both watched M*A*S*H* the night before or maybe we both caught that Dallas season finale cliff-hanger. It was something to discuss that wasn't politics, it was something that brought people together... rather than tore them apart. A "commonality of experience" serves to humanize others in our eyes... it's a lot harder to actively dislike someone (no matter how different that person's politics might be from ours) when we have other things in common with that person. This commonality of experience made for a substantially less divisive culture.
I grew up going on long road trips with my parents. We'd listen to the radio together, we'd talk, we'd play "car games"... We interacted with each other. Yeah sometimes I'd pop on headphones and listen to music, sometimes I'd get lost in a book for awhile... but that wouldn't occupy an entire trip. It would be a brief distraction (there is such a thing as "too much togetherness" after all).
Today many cars have DVD players on the seat backs so the kids in the back seat can watch TV or DVDs to keep them distracted... So Dad's driving and listening to the radio, Mom is checking her texts on her cell phone, the kids are in the backseat with headphones on watching a movie (or possibly even 2 separate movies)... What aren't they doing? Communicating with each other. Dad doesn't have to stop and get out of the car to actually interact with someone else to ask for directions because his Garmin or TomTom is there guiding the way the whole trip. These conveniences that distract us, also serve to isolate us. In our isolation our fellow humans-- friends and family included lose a bit of that humanity to us. Over time we've started to shed our social graces that made us considerably more civil with one another. When we aren't even communicating properly with our own families, how can we be expected to communicate civilly and respectfully with the strangers we come into contact with on a daily basis?
These new technologies aren't the cause of divide, they are merely enablers. We live in a culture of excess. We've long forgotten how to keep things small or simple... everything is to the extreme. So, while these new technologies in moderation provide wonderful new conveniences in excess they drive wedges between us, our friends, and our neighbors. They isolate us from one another and they've caused us to, over time, forget our civility towards one another.
Showing posts with label social commentary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social commentary. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Friday, November 19, 2010
The Insulation and Homogenization of American Culture
In my music collection I have collections of the top 100 songs from the Billboard charts for almost every year between 1970 and 1990. This past week at work I've been listening to some of the material from the early eighties and I've noticed that as the decade progressed there was a homogenization of sorts of the music being played on the radio. In the early eighties radio stations played much more eclectic mixes of material the same station that would play material by AC/DC and Billy Squier would also play material by Kenny Rogers, Eddie Rabbit, & Juice Newton. As the decade progressed the variety of material regressed.
When I was young the TV offerings were substantially more limited. There were the 3 major US networks, 2 stations out of Manhattan 300 miles to the south (WPIX and WWOR), and 3 Canadian stations due to our proximity to the Canadian border (CBC, CTV, & CJOH). Oh, and if you had a special box, there was HBO on channel 6.
Because of limited options on television and the variety of radio we were tied together considerably more by a certain commonality of experience. We may have had political differences but our neighbor down the street couldn't have been too bad a fellow because he caught last night's episode of M*A*S*H* and enjoyed it as well. That's something we could talk about-- a shared experience of enjoyment. Nevermind what his political beliefs were because the subject of politics rarely came up.
It's a lot harder to demonize those with which you disagree politically if you share some similarities and some life experiences, watch some of the same TV shows, listen to some of the same music.
Fast forward to the present. We have hundreds of cable channels, radio stations are heavily programmed to play only certain "genres" of music, advertising is growing more specifically targeted to certain demographic groups rather than the population as a whole. As a culture this is causing the trend of getting us as individuals to focus more on our differences than our similarities and in so doing is causing increasing divisiveness.
Our similiarities with one another are blurring and our differences are coming into sharp focus. The art of compromise is being forgotten as we see increasingly less in common with one another due to our decreasing level of shared common experiences.
When you add to that the increased reliance on technology; our cell phones, laptops, iPods, etc.; they insulate us from one another. It's considerably easier to call someone names or insult that person when you think of that person as a name on a screen as opposed to a living breathing human being. It's easier to cast insults at those you disagree with when you don't have to view the reprecussions of your actions. When you don't see the effect your words have on the person your words are directed at.
Between the pigeonholing and insulation of our culture, we've stopped seeing one another as fellow people and started seeing one another more and more as allies and adversaries based respectively on our shared or conflicting viewpoints. That has mushroomed into our increasingly more polarized and culturally divided nation.
I don't know the solution, I wish I did. But I'd like to think having an awareness and understanding of what is happening and why is a good first step towards finding a solution and hopefully tearing down some of the walls we've started to build between us.
When I was young the TV offerings were substantially more limited. There were the 3 major US networks, 2 stations out of Manhattan 300 miles to the south (WPIX and WWOR), and 3 Canadian stations due to our proximity to the Canadian border (CBC, CTV, & CJOH). Oh, and if you had a special box, there was HBO on channel 6.
Because of limited options on television and the variety of radio we were tied together considerably more by a certain commonality of experience. We may have had political differences but our neighbor down the street couldn't have been too bad a fellow because he caught last night's episode of M*A*S*H* and enjoyed it as well. That's something we could talk about-- a shared experience of enjoyment. Nevermind what his political beliefs were because the subject of politics rarely came up.
It's a lot harder to demonize those with which you disagree politically if you share some similarities and some life experiences, watch some of the same TV shows, listen to some of the same music.
Fast forward to the present. We have hundreds of cable channels, radio stations are heavily programmed to play only certain "genres" of music, advertising is growing more specifically targeted to certain demographic groups rather than the population as a whole. As a culture this is causing the trend of getting us as individuals to focus more on our differences than our similarities and in so doing is causing increasing divisiveness.
Our similiarities with one another are blurring and our differences are coming into sharp focus. The art of compromise is being forgotten as we see increasingly less in common with one another due to our decreasing level of shared common experiences.
When you add to that the increased reliance on technology; our cell phones, laptops, iPods, etc.; they insulate us from one another. It's considerably easier to call someone names or insult that person when you think of that person as a name on a screen as opposed to a living breathing human being. It's easier to cast insults at those you disagree with when you don't have to view the reprecussions of your actions. When you don't see the effect your words have on the person your words are directed at.
Between the pigeonholing and insulation of our culture, we've stopped seeing one another as fellow people and started seeing one another more and more as allies and adversaries based respectively on our shared or conflicting viewpoints. That has mushroomed into our increasingly more polarized and culturally divided nation.
I don't know the solution, I wish I did. But I'd like to think having an awareness and understanding of what is happening and why is a good first step towards finding a solution and hopefully tearing down some of the walls we've started to build between us.
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