This is the twentieth century so of course we digitize everything. No more maps, since we have google maps and Global Positioning Systems. No more calendars, since your agenda can be stored on your phone. No more letters to send in the mail because you can send stuff via email, text, or some form of personal message.
No more notebooks in school, since you can type your notes, and no more need for physical books when you can buy Ebooks. No need for VHS, DVDs or CDs since we have Netflix and HBO and iTunes and Google Play Music.
We can digitize so much information now, and it's incredible. But, sometimes, in trying to digitize our life, we stop living it.
My dad used to make fun of me for not being able to navigate through a map or find stuff as quickly as he could in a phone book, but I also make fun of him sometimes for not understanding technology or using technology to make his life easier.
Either way we're both happy living our lives technology free or full of computer science, but sometimes I think of how much easier he could make his life if he would utilize google maps, docs, or store directories online to make shopping easier.
But, then I think how much he thinks my life could be worse because of technology, how I would rather stare at my phone playing games and such than have conversations with people.
The biggest example is when I went on vacation and watched as people from all over and all ages live their life through a screen instead of their own eyes. While hiking the falls at Watkins Glen, people would hike, look up, snap a picture, and then look down again as they hiked to the new location.
Instead of looking at the gorge that the water over the course of years has carved out, and looking at the waterfalls and river that run for miles, it seemed like people were snapping picture of the scenery and not even because of the beautiful natural landscape.
It was only so they could post the picture to social media to show the world and friends that they've been there-- even though I'm not sure they truly experienced the place.
The same thing happened at Niagara falls as I watched tourists pull out their phones trying to capture the greatness of the falls so that they could keep it forever, and I can’t blame them because I wanted to do the same thing too. I was looking through the screen of my phone as I tried to capture the perfect picture of the towering falls when I realized that I couldn’t.
It was a valiant effort, but the picture through my phone screen was nothing compared to the actual picture that was right in front of me. So I put the phone down and looked up at the thundering falls, and I couldn't help myself from smiling in awe-- an involuntary feeling of wonder that I realized I didn't have when staring through my phone screen.
And the same thing happened as the falls got lit up as fireworks burst in the sky, and tons of tourist were recording the show-- watching it through the phone screen. I would look to them and then look up at the fireworks through my eyes, and in my opinion that was 10 times better of a show. I wondered why these people were recording the fireworks and if they were ever going to watch them again, because I knew I wasn't going to.
So I worried less about recording and just enjoyed the fireworks lighting up the night sky, because I realized I'd rather have one real life experience than an unlimited pixelated experience.
And after the show my only regret wasn't that I hadn't recorded it, but that I hadn't looked up from my phone screen sooner.
All of this thinking inspired me to look back through my photos which was really amazing, but... well I hadn't looked back at some of the photos I took in years. Some of them I even deleted so, what was the point in even taking them?
I wondered why I even thought it was important to preserve some of these random memories when I had never actually experienced the memory in the first place. I looked at some photos thinking about how cool that was and wondering how much cooler that would have been in person, had I missed it, I couldn't even remember. I had never made the experience worthy of being memorable or the picture worthy of having a story behind it.
Have I forgot to live life because I'm too busy living behind a phone screen?
