Disconnected .......

[marmar]

Today I was in Target, pushing a basket around the store with my iPod earphones firmly planted in my ears. I nearly took out an elderly lady and her basket backing up because I couldn't hear her saying that she was behind me.
I wasn't the only one. Dozens of shoppers also had their iPods on or cellphones in their hands, completely oblivious to everyone and everything going on around them.
Then I went over to a friend's house following an anti-Iraq invasion vigil. He lives in one of those vast (soulless) suburban subdivisions where there are five styles of houses that keep repeating themselves over and over again. He knew exactly three of his neighbors.
Why are we so disconnected from each other and from everything that's going on?
At the Iraq invasion vigil, held at my alma mater, Eastern Michigan University, there was a decent turnout, but not nearly what you'd expect considering how angry people supposedly are about this invasion/occupation and its disastrous consequences. Moreover, it was the usual Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area protest crowd who made up the bulk of those in attendance.
I grew up in the Reagan/"Me" '80s, in a generation (X) known for its slacker apathy. But even then, people didn't seem nearly as isolated in their own little cocoons as they do now.
And I'm as guilty as anyone. In addition to my aforemention iPod issues, I absolutely hate it when I'm flying and the person who sits next to me decides that they want to talk all flight long. But I'm working on it - if nothing else I'm aware of it.
Maybe it's the suburbanization of the country. Maybe it's all the "stuff" that advertisers have convinced us we need. Maybe it's the lingering cancer of the "I've got mine and leave me alone" Nixon/Reagan/Bush era.
Whatever it is, the concept of the commons or community is sorely lacking. When there are more people in Whole Foods than out protesting the invasion/occupation in tree-hugging, peace-loving Ann Arbor, the world just ain't right.

:(

[NightWatcher]

1. we are one huge community of millions of isolated people

I'm sitting alone in my home, typing this to you, chatting online with my girlfriend, and watching tv. Completely isolated, but connected

[AlCzervik]

2. i living one of those charmless subdivisions, my dad came to visit and he got his

rental car and got to my neighborhood and called me "Which one is yours?" "The beige one" "they're all beige" "I know!" and laughed my ass off.

I hear you though, i do know many of my neighbors, maybe it's because i'm on a cul de sac but some of them are pretty great. As for the disconnect i think there is one, people are working 2 jobs just to try and get through the next month and quite frankly here in the land of charmless tract home the public transportation is a joke, these cities are laid out so you almost have to have a car.

I grew up 6 miles north of Boston also during the Reagen error and we took the t everywhere and things seemed a lot smaller then and there were actual neighborhoods with sidewalks.

[babylonsister]

3. I "hear" you because I don't use my iPod except for airports,

gardening, or excercising (when I start). I 'know' my neighbors and don't want to associate with them. Not because they're bad, but we have nothing in common.
When I 'go home' or fly away I see my buddies.

[AlCzervik]

4. huh me too, when i fly back east "I'm going home for a visit"

[marmar]

5. And that's always true....

Some people you just can't relate to.

[scarletwoman]

6. Why are you asking?

When you, yourself are tuning out of your immediate environment with your iPod, isn't the answer obvious?

It's pretty clear that very few people want to deal with the here and now -- not if they have the means to tune it out and retreat into their own private stimulus of choice.

I don't have an iPod, I don't have a cell phone, I don't have cable TV. I can't imagine not interacting with my immediate environment in the moment. But it seems like almost everyone wants to distract themselves from what they are doing.

It's not that I want to be all judgemental -- I just honestly don't understand why a person who is shopping wouldn't want to be focused on their shopping.

It's like no one wants to experience what they are actually doing, no one wants to experience where they really are. It's just really weird to me.

sw

[Breeze54]

7. I was in the grocery store tonight too and it was empty.

It's a really rainy night here and that's when the stores are usually crowded but not tonight.
I hope that means they were all at vigils or protests or doing something against the occupation.

Glad to hear you didn't get arrested too! ;)

[marmar]

8. Nope....I tried my best, though.

:)

[mondo joe]

9. I don't think you need to be open to every person you encounter to be connected.

And many of us need a bit of isolation to recharge.

Personally, I don't like to shop with my iPhone headset on, because I prefer to be aware of my surroundings in such settings. But when I run, I listen to music and don't want to chat with anyone else. Same when I'm on a bus or in an airplane. I talk with people all day at work and all night at home. I love getting a little half hour to myself.