“We get to say it to their faces!”
That is what my most recent director said at the top of his first rehearsal for the new show. It was his thesis for why the art form of theatre still matters in the digital age. In this forum, I basically came out as a member of the Theatre Faith(A thespivangelist?), but that’s only tangentially related to what is being discussed this go-round.
The value my director finds in Theatre as an art form is a value that is not unique to the theatre. Telling stories and having true debates with people is only truly possible when everybody is in the same room. The changing of people’s minds is an inherently social process. People are social creatures. Socializing happens in person.
I have come to the firm conviction that nothing that happens on the web or during texting is socialization at all. It is certainly communication, and useful as a tool to exchange information with others. As a global society, however, I fear we may be putting the cart before the horse when it comes to so-called “social” networking.
The way to solve problems on the personal scale, and possibly the societal, is what it always has been: sitting down and hashing it out in the same room. In other words, our natural empathy has been muffled by the veil of technology.
This is the talk of all towns at this moment in history. One can’t go a day without hearing about the dreaded ‘echo chamber effect’ or some other nefarious consequences of the scope of our online lives. In our personal lives, one can see the toxic rhetoric of politics dividing families(I myself have been blocked and unfriended by relatives for my views on their views =P).
We all have those worthless oversharers in our circles, who seem to want the world to know every measurable fact of daily progress in their lives. (I’m on calorie 453 of today, can't wait for the next one! #Daveiskillingit).
One’s opinion of Dave might be a lot higher if his utterly empty life were less on display. The problem goes a lot deeper than the trifles though. This disconnect with each other is devaluing our common humanity, the worst of offenses in this author’s opinion.
When I was growing up in the chaotic and hope-filled decade of the 90’s, two very important concepts were taught to me. My instructors at school taught me that if I was angry with somebody I should write them an angry letter filled with my grievances and sleep on it.
When I woke up, if I still felt the letter properly expressed the problem, I should confront the offending party. If however, the rage subsided, and I was able to see the conflict from the other person’s perspective, maybe a less confrontational approach could win out. It may have taken another decade and some change for me to learn this age-old lesson, but it comes out as a winner, trust me.
The second important concept seems to be the school of philosophy that won the battle for the soul of the Digital Age from the outset. The general premise is that if you don’t like what someone is saying, to your face mind, you tell them to TALK TO THE HAND.
Not only have we held on to this hamfisted approach with an iron grip, we’ve doubled down. Now the hands talk to each other, no people need be attached to the problem.
We’re isolated in clouds of disconnected noise with no eyes to stare into, no warmth to feel, no reactions to watch, and no insight to glean. I'm not some troglodyte radical that thinks we need to abandon technology in favor of Amishtization. (Otherwise known as Josiah Law) In our day-to-day interactions we could save the emotional heavy lifting for in-person exchange wherever possible.
Write the letter, then sit down and hash it out.
