Becoming Inhuman
By Jonah Newton (with assistance from Lipton Limburger).
Dept. Home Truths, Morwena Glyntaff Memorial College, Tre-Mynach, South Wales, UK.
Who can forget that loving snarl and cut of those words: Sit back! Do you want to have square eyes? But did this prevent any of us from listening? Did it cause us to stop and say to ourselves: hold on - there might be something of value in what she’s grumbling about? Well, not really.
As a young lad, I would instead wonder what having ‘square eyes’ actually meant. Surely it simply implied that one might, through careful and selective viewing of the correct types of TV programmes, acquire some kind of robot vision. So what? Robots were cool and anyway no-one would ever mess with one, right?
"If you don’t have any friends... go and make some" |
These days, as I look around my office, all I see are techno-types with square lenses balanced upon their noses. And not only that, but there appears to be such a lost look on their faces - a sadness that suggests that they are only what they are, and can only be what they can be with the aid of their desktop PC and monitor. I often ponder at whether they too belong to that generation - the ‘computer youth’ of the late 1970s and early 1980s - the boys and girls who were indeed once warned by their mothers to sit back from the TV. They should have taken heed. But I fear that it’s far too late for some of these poor ‘robots’ to make amends.
Researching the computer youth lifestyle
Our department correspondent, Lipton Limburger set out to observe the working practices of persons known to be the computer youth generation (specifically those born within the period 1968-1975). Posing as a visitor at the offices of several IT-related organisations within the Bristol and Cardiff areas, Lipton made detailed notes regarding the communication habits of the workforce. We present an extract from Lipton’s diary: I was surprised to note that the majority of the office workers hardly speak to each other throughout the day. Plans for meetings and projects are all undertaken through e-mail. It would seem that even people sitting next to each other correspond in this manner.
Except for the occasional beep of a mobile phone there is complete silence. I attempted to start a conversation with one of the staff, but was just handed a card containing the address for a personal website. This person then adjusted their spectacles and continued to type at their keyboard.
Increasing social disorder? Lipton’s report shows without doubt, the severity of this problem. This is what the world has come to: communication without the incentive for verbal reasoning.
So what can we conclude? The message is simple: if you feel that you might be one of the lost computer youth, then think back to what your mother once told you. Change now and don’t allow the next generation to become inhuman.
Get yourself out of this frame of mind - just turn to the person next to you and have a brief conversation. When you go home, don’t sit at the PC, try something different. Take a walk, go and watch a movie, visit a friend. If you don’t have any friends then join a community group and try to make some.
Furthermore, ensure that your offspring take note of your warnings. Explain that excessive use of the TV or the PC can only result in them becoming a walking electronic brain. Encourage them to take up book-reading, perhaps cycling, cooking or even stamp-collecting.
Persuade them with the incentive that they might meet some interesting people at a youth club or through an activity that gets them out of doors. Do it today. It’s your duty as a parent. It’s your duty as a human.
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