With tech, everything possible, nothing real
If you blink, you might miss one of the most astonishing moments in American cinematic history. Near the end of Buster Keaton’s short film “Cops,” Keaton runs towards the camera while attempting to evade a mob of police officers. Reaching the end of an alleyway, he then nonchalantly throws his arm out and grabs hold of a speeding car, which immediately lifts him parallel to the ground and pulls him out of the frame.
There were no special effects used to film the scene; it was simply another example of Keaton’s supernatural athleticism and unique bravery.
Modern films are full of special effects and imagery that far surpass anything Keaton could have conceived in the 1920s. Anything is now possible on the screen, down to bringing deceased actors back to life to put words in their mouths.
But for all the science fiction universes filled with spaceships and CGI superheroes and digital explosions, each seems antiseptic when compared to a human actor doing something beautiful or legitimately dangerous. (In 2014, “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” recreated Keaton’s truck-grabbing stunt, claiming no special effects were used.)
The great effect of technology is to allow us to witness images and events that we once thought impossible. But the downside has been to eliminate the human element in virtually every aspect of our lives. Vivid, descriptive writing has fallen prey to instant video; painting a picture with words now seems antiquated when the thing being described is likely a few clicks away on YouTube.
The cornerstone of major movie studio budgets are now CGI-saturated franchises, crowding out quirky human interest stories. A small film like last year’s “Lady Bird” likely cost as much to produce as about 10 seconds of screen time for Digital Yoda.
But the further digitization of our lives has more dire consequences beyond Americans’ mere entertainment choices. With more reliance on online interactions, we lose the humanity we gain when we speak to another living person on the phone or in person. We treat each other not as people, but as caricatures and enemies useful only for well-crafted Twitter burn. We now grow impatient any time we have to have a conversation in which we don’t want to take part, as if there should be a realworld “mute” button.
Much like the pixelated landscapes in movies, digital outrage is no longer real. Feigned offense exists to demonstrate moral superiority over people you’ve never met. It appears everyone hates you until proven otherwise. Your online “friends” are people you don’t know on any level deeper than exchanging a few messages.
That is why an early May study conducted by Cigna showed the youngest Americans — those most likely to use social media — are the loneliest people in the nation. “I have students who tell me they have 500 ‘friends,’ but when they’re in need, there’s no one,” Jagdish Khubchandani, a health science professor at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., told USA TODAY after the report’s release.
Despite the promise of “social media” to bring people together, it is making us demonstrably more unsocial. In both entertainment and our personal lives, technology is robbing us of our humanity.
So instead of using your phone to check Twitter, use it to actually make phone calls. And meet and talk to people in person.
Christian Schneider is a Journal Sentinel columnist. Email christian.schneider@jrn.com.