I saw her a couple of days ago on my way home, she was standing close by in the tram. A “dream come true” woman. Tall, long hair, pretty face, blue-grey eyes and the sweetest Mona-Lisa smile on her face. But at the same time she was out of reach, she could have been a million miles away. Two white wires and a few gigabytes of Music kept her in the – I would call it – MP3-Matrix. She was unable (maybe unwilling) to notice the smile that I had put on. I stopped smiling at her after a couple of seconds as I did not want to stare at her, but those few seconds, under normal circumstances, would have been enough to create that special moment, that split second of joint happiness, perhaps even a “Hello, how are you”?. Just a perfect little something on the way home.
But sadly, nowadays an increasing number of human beings turn into Zombies, unable to communicate with others or notice anything going on around them. Blocked away from what is going on by the latest chart hits. Its horrible, even my colleagues at the office wear earplugs during the day, starring at their monitors, taking away the possibility to have a quick small talk every now and then. Silence is golden… but talking has been regarded as one of the greatest achievements of the so called “naked ape”! Why do so many people choose to escape into a “Coldplay-coma”? Is it that the sound of the real world has become unbearable?
I am afraid it will even become worse, not only that people will turn deaf, but also lose their ability to communicate with others without a special purpose, say because they have to work together. Maybe in a couple of years there are special groups to help you to find a way out of the mp3-matrix. A new trend could be born – talking to strangers, smiling at each other, things that used to be common in the 20th century, but vanished in the early 21st century.
Well, if I see that woman again, I might try and wake her up. I wonder if that is as dangerous as approaching a sleepwalking person…