The era of lovely and fabulous is not even close to the utter positive ring of those epithets. The era of air-brushed excitement and friendly words overuse indicates symptoms of a societal trend. Could it be a fear of trolls, fear of criticism, of being packed in boxes, labelled, and ruined for life in a virtual campaign against our online persona, which replaces the soul? We’ve never found the soul – we only hinted it weighs something, 21 grams or so, but in the meantime, we’ve unwillingly, automatically, autocorrectly shaped our online soul. We exist in a parallel universe, and we exist there at a maximum capacity.
We are maxed out. But here come mentions of the metaverse – they want more of our soul uploaded to the ones and zeros, decorated with some 3D promises. I don’t remember we asked for it. Yet they are pushing for it. Ever watched Wall-e? Recognising the oxymoron of digital tools being used to tell the story of a digital overdose, I still find the numb adults in floating chairs is a fantastic picture of what the ethics-deprived architects of the future are setting us up for.
We don’t need to go shopping staring at our phones to look for the aisles. We need to look up, find stuff, manage our hyped kids as we go and get out of there. Into nature! Have more walks, touch stuff, feel the air, experience life with the body we have, without uploading everything to the cloud. Real clouds are truly lovely and fabulous, but they don’t need us to say this; wasn’t it common knowledge since humanity became. Makes me wonder, do the animals look up and notice how fabulous and just lovely the clouds can be?
There, you witnessed the glimpse of attention span, shrank and abused, interrupting a nicely set logical chain of thoughts.
Tech can indeed be lovely and fabulous, it’s a tool, not the place to live in. Can someone let the person in charge know – it’s a tool – we don’t want to live in there?!
Oh yes, as netiquette undeniably suggests, it’s time for me to apologise for the rant and disturbing someone’s peace with not-so-lovely thoughts. Rant alert, a late one, applicable to all of the above and not sure what I’ll say next, so by reading further, you are agreeing to confirm that you are a human to your screen and that you accept less than fabulous consequences of a possible rant continuing.
To go back to the place we live in. It’s called planet Earth, it’s a part of a universe, it’s something, it has a shape and form, and I’m pretty sure I can touch it. I expect it still holds these different surfaces, textures, natural, slightly forgotten.
Let me ask you something. How many times per day do you touch a natural object, a surface and feel the texture? Keyboard, mouse, plastic, door handles, cups, mugs, kitchen utensils, products…all smooth, perfected, deprived of anomalies, of character, of bumps and lumps, of stuff to talk to your fingertips, stuff to feel. Your fingertips might be numb you know, would you know?
I don’t know. Things 3d printable are nice and easy, neat, no splinters allowed, no tough stuff, tough conversations, it’s all lovely, but it lacks 21 grams. No panic, they can replace the 21 grams with 3-5 kilobytes or so, it won’t take too much space, won’t require too much storage, is an electricity-friendly way to keep up a soul, and does not pollute!
I went to all senses park yesterday in Baden Württemberg, Park mit alle Sinnen . It felt yes – wonderful and yes – lovely. It’s a place where you walk through different trails barefoot, there’s a forest, there are smells, and sounds, you can grab an ice cream and a majestic view. You can utterly enjoy that time, that path and if there was only a way, only a place where we could feel, touch, see, smell, taste, live using whatever our bodies and 21 grams of soul can offer. If someone remembers such a place, if you can please let me know, asking for a friend too.
Sanja Ivandic is one of the Authors of the Outside Multicultural Magazine. Sanja wrote for several magazines, and enjoys every form of writing, be it poems, case studies or prose.
Her special skills lie in marketing and helping people progress their careers, especially those in vulnerable circumstances. Currently, she is an Intercultural and EU project specialist, developing and implementing innovative projects addressing inclusion, digitalisation, gender equality and more.
Sanja’s words on multiculturalism: “Multiculturalism for me is a synonym for humanity. Being diverse and similar at the same time is who we are and we must never forget it. Remembering this evokes respect, love, and peace, so we must keep reminding ourselves about the word multicultural”.
You can reach Sanja here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjaivandic/