Real Time
first published as lost and found column #11 in Sun.Star Weekend Cebu on October 23, 2004
These days, virtually anything is possible. Virtual banks, virtual stores, virtual friends, virtual boyfriends?the term ?virtual reality?, originally meaning an environment simulated by computer programs, has taken on a surreal twist indeed. I know people who attend virtual meetings with disembodied bosses they?ve never seen, and probably never will. And how many stories have we heard of girls going on dates with faceless fiancé³ who, thankfully, DO show up with faces at the wedding.
Technology is shortening not only distances, but time frames as well. The invention of airplanes cut the waiting time for letters to a day, but in less than a lifetime e-mail reduced it to seconds. With instant messaging and faster download times pushing our PC?s speed limit further and further, the more competitive companies keep up by offering customer support in real time.
Real time as opposed to fake time? There?s something to be said about how we call things. ?Real time?, I suppose, means ?really fast?, because a real person?instead of a machine?is actually there on the other side ready to answer your question. Come to think of it, doesn?t that mean ?real time? is ?being here, now?? That would make ?fake time? mean pretending to be here now, but really being somewhere else, physically or otherwise.
It?s amazing how technology transforms our vocabulary?and sense of reality. In the beginning, all time was real. Even the time it took the farmer to wait for the seeds to grow into trees. Or the housewife for water to boil and the meat to become tender. Waiting for things to happen was as much a part of life as things actually happening. They were THERE in each excruciating moment of not knowing what might (or might not) happen next. Now we have industrial-strength fertilizers, and fastfood and instant noodles with MSG. And we ask why we?re getting sicker.
This consumer-driven generation not only wants more, we also want it NOW. We fear waiting, fear the uncertainty of the in-betweens, and have made up a new word for it: downtime. Every day new technology is invented to keep it to a minimum. They even have computers now designed especially for toilets.
Hardly anyone has enough patience anymore for the natural order of things. We?re after results and happy endings; we don?t want to be hanging around for the tedious middle part. Why let your body slowly heal itself when you can keep popping quick-fix pills? Why endure months of exercise and vegetables when (with enough cash) you can get the fat sucked out of your tummy in an hour?
Or why take the trouble to meet up and talk with a friend, when you can basically get it over with in a few minutes on the phone, or with fewer pesos on text? No wonder more and more relationships now are also virtual?that is, almost real. Intoxicated by the speed technology offers us, we get to spend time with more people in our ever-expanding virtual network, but less real time with the real people in our lives. We may be in the same room with them but our attention is as far away as virtual reality allows. Or we may be constantly in touch, but our bodies are always somewhere else, always too busy to be where they really are; if we don?t want them around, we can just turn off our phones or not reply to their e-mail.
It?s in the slowness of just being there?otherwise known as ?doing nothing??that the real stuff often happens, when flowers bloom and fruits ripen and bright ideas simmer in our brains. Besides, some things we simply can?t speed up. Like lasting friendships, or true love, or growing up, or baking a really moist chocolate cake. We can try, but somehow it doesn?t quite end up the same.
We forget what King Solomon said thousands of years ago: to every thing there is a season and a time for every purpose under the sun. There?s a time to text or chat with our virtual pals, and there?s a time for me to shut down this computer, turn to face my friend, and listen to his story, for as long as it takes to be told. In real time.
These days, virtually anything is possible. Virtual banks, virtual stores, virtual friends, virtual boyfriends?the term ?virtual reality?, originally meaning an environment simulated by computer programs, has taken on a surreal twist indeed. I know people who attend virtual meetings with disembodied bosses they?ve never seen, and probably never will. And how many stories have we heard of girls going on dates with faceless fiancé³ who, thankfully, DO show up with faces at the wedding.
Technology is shortening not only distances, but time frames as well. The invention of airplanes cut the waiting time for letters to a day, but in less than a lifetime e-mail reduced it to seconds. With instant messaging and faster download times pushing our PC?s speed limit further and further, the more competitive companies keep up by offering customer support in real time.
Real time as opposed to fake time? There?s something to be said about how we call things. ?Real time?, I suppose, means ?really fast?, because a real person?instead of a machine?is actually there on the other side ready to answer your question. Come to think of it, doesn?t that mean ?real time? is ?being here, now?? That would make ?fake time? mean pretending to be here now, but really being somewhere else, physically or otherwise.
It?s amazing how technology transforms our vocabulary?and sense of reality. In the beginning, all time was real. Even the time it took the farmer to wait for the seeds to grow into trees. Or the housewife for water to boil and the meat to become tender. Waiting for things to happen was as much a part of life as things actually happening. They were THERE in each excruciating moment of not knowing what might (or might not) happen next. Now we have industrial-strength fertilizers, and fastfood and instant noodles with MSG. And we ask why we?re getting sicker.
This consumer-driven generation not only wants more, we also want it NOW. We fear waiting, fear the uncertainty of the in-betweens, and have made up a new word for it: downtime. Every day new technology is invented to keep it to a minimum. They even have computers now designed especially for toilets.
Hardly anyone has enough patience anymore for the natural order of things. We?re after results and happy endings; we don?t want to be hanging around for the tedious middle part. Why let your body slowly heal itself when you can keep popping quick-fix pills? Why endure months of exercise and vegetables when (with enough cash) you can get the fat sucked out of your tummy in an hour?
Or why take the trouble to meet up and talk with a friend, when you can basically get it over with in a few minutes on the phone, or with fewer pesos on text? No wonder more and more relationships now are also virtual?that is, almost real. Intoxicated by the speed technology offers us, we get to spend time with more people in our ever-expanding virtual network, but less real time with the real people in our lives. We may be in the same room with them but our attention is as far away as virtual reality allows. Or we may be constantly in touch, but our bodies are always somewhere else, always too busy to be where they really are; if we don?t want them around, we can just turn off our phones or not reply to their e-mail.
It?s in the slowness of just being there?otherwise known as ?doing nothing??that the real stuff often happens, when flowers bloom and fruits ripen and bright ideas simmer in our brains. Besides, some things we simply can?t speed up. Like lasting friendships, or true love, or growing up, or baking a really moist chocolate cake. We can try, but somehow it doesn?t quite end up the same.
We forget what King Solomon said thousands of years ago: to every thing there is a season and a time for every purpose under the sun. There?s a time to text or chat with our virtual pals, and there?s a time for me to shut down this computer, turn to face my friend, and listen to his story, for as long as it takes to be told. In real time.
I like this perspective on real time!
ReplyDeleteJust yesterday, a friend got herself some flu vaccine apparently to prepare for the cold weather when she is most vulnerable to the virus causing flu. The resistance of our forefathers even in the time of war and famine were much higher (although not always documented) sans any vaccine. Their bodies simply took the natural course of self-healing and they depended on the greens which also took some "real time" to grow into nutritious vegetables. Ahhh... real time!
Consumerism is certainly eating more of our time than we usually allow before. Fastfood hubs and within it, the drive-thrus, are shortchanging long and fruitful conversations with friends over a good meal. The water we drink which used to be taken "as is, where is," is now bottled -- apparently packaged as cleaner and more portable. If things now are meant to give us more time, why can't we easily "squeeze in" a mother's plea for a visit, a kid's request for a parent's attendance to a PTA meeting, or return a friend's call? Ahh... real time.
I agree with you, and King Solomon...