This last weekend I was on a flight up to Toronto, killing time by looking through the always entertaining SkyMall magazine. I mean seriously, who doesn’t get a kick out of that big inflatable body pillow that they sell for people to use on a plane? I barely have enough room for my laptop as it is.
I can see it now — you’re shuffling down the aisle and into your painfully cruel middle seat when all of a sudden you hear “pffft … pfffft … pffft” and turn to see the person next to you blowing up their huge plastic pillow.
Anwyay, in this issue of SkyMall they happened to save the best ad for last. Close to the end of the magazine there was a product with this ad line, “Have you ever wanted to make or receive a call underwater?” The accompanying picture was a scuba diver with this product connected to his mask, and he’s phoning someone while underwater. He must have been looking at some pretty amazing coral.
But while I did get some good entertainment out of that ad (my apologies to anyone who may have bought it … or the pillow), it made me think about something that has probably crossed all of our minds at some point or another — is it possible to be too connected?
In an age of phone calls, e-mails, text messages, Facebook, and Twitter, we can contact each other any day, any time. Phones are buzzing constantly, and the social expectation now is that a person must respond right away. And now suddenly not being able to make a phone call while scuba diving is being framed as an inconvenience.
Certainly technological advances have created a lot of positives, and it’s a great thing to be able to keep in touch with friends and loved ones all over the world with such ease. I’m very thankful for the means to do that.
However, have we reached the point where we’ve become too accessible? With all the communications flying in from all over the place, do you think it makes it harder to give your attention to the tasks and people who are immediately around you?
