’)Change never happens overnight, and that’s always been it’s most dangerous feature. Ten years ago no one gave a fuck about gas prices, Big Pun was still alive and we stood together, facing the impending doom of the two-digit calendar. Now, one decade later, most of that seems to be an afterthought waiting for a VH1 special to remind us that we once, actually cared.
The last decade has been marked with contentious improvements in modern technology that have each become a social crutch in our overwhelming lives. Every advancement outsources another day-to-day task to the land of technology and at the rate we're going, by the time the next decade rolls around people will be free of any responsibility sans changing the batteries.
It would be impossible to believe that this digital renaissance didn’t shape the generation of children, fortunate enough to bear whiteness to its evolutionary explosion. For the last ten years the terms advanced, upgraded, and deluxe have all been all been synonymous with the word faster. It’s the way things are rated, the hierarchy of consumer products, the faster the better; and anything that can’t keep up has been left behind in a cloud a dust along with daily newspapers and 56k modems.
Technology has saturated our culture to the point where this influx of speed influences every aspect of our lives. We’ve condensed relationships into one nightstands and conversations into quid pro quos via text message. Study sessions are no longer complete without narcotics to accelerate the process and drive though restaurants have become one of the few recession proof industries. We’re all in a huge hurry, but if it wasn’t for gps no one would seem to know where the hell we’re going.
I’ve never been one to stop and smell the roses but maybe its time I gave it a try. These days we’re so caught up in the race to the finish line that there’s no time figure out exactly what were running from. I don’t blame the technology; for the most part I think it’s all pretty damn useful.
What’s tricky is realizing that some things aren’t supposed to be easy and it’s difficult to accept that the harder road can sometimes be the better option, especially when they have the same result. But the quicker things come the quicker they go and now at the close of a ten year period where so much has transgressed it hard to think back on exactly what you have, and what you just raced by. Things change quickly, and if you spend all your time trying to keep up, the only things you’ll have to show for it will already be outdated.