Just Finished Reading: The End of Absence – Reclaiming What We’ve Lost in a World of Constant Connection by Michael Harris (FP: 2014)

Member of ‘My Generation’ (complete with The Who soundtrack) are liminal – we have lived in two separate realities: both before and after the existence of The Internet. Those youngsters born after its invention have lived their entire lives in this electronic sea we now find ourselves in. They have never know absence. They have never known the reality of being ‘off-grid’ for the simple reason that the grid never existed only a few precious years ago. They have never, or only in their wildest nightmares, been unable to contact someone or themselves being unable to be contacted. They have never been at a loss of a fact or an opinion. They have never, in any real sense, had to cope with being truly alone, thrown back on their own resources, even for a few hours. They have probably never even been lost.

This is the feeling that the author tries (and I think succeeds) in getting across especially to those who have never felt it. I grew up, went through adolescence and into adulthood knowing that if I needed to call someone I had to find a static (and hopefully working!) phone box on the street or in a public place [usually smelling slightly of stale urine. Likewise if I was away from home I was essentially unreachable until I called someone else to tell them where I was. If I wanted to, or simply forgot, I could disappear for as long as I wanted to. If I wanted to know where I was I would either have to ask someone or work it out for myself by reading maps or extracting what information I could from my local environment. I had to work at it. If I got lost, which I sometimes did, I had to find my own way back to a known location. Again the responsibility was mine and only mine. Everyone, even young children, had basic navigation skills because they had no other choice. All of that has gone. It has been destroyed by the cell phone in your hand. Not only can you reach out and touch someone (as they can to you) but you always know where you are and you always know everything you want to know – instantly and without any real effort. Results without effort. Rewards without cost. What could go wrong?

But it goes further than these seemingly trivial aspects of modern, especially urban, existence. There are teens who would rather be separated from their parents than their smart phones. There are countless millions who cannot concentrate long enough to read more than two pages of text, most of which they skim read. There are untold numbers of especially younger people who communicate largely by hand-held device, who are awkward in social situations and yet fear loneliness and isolation above all else. But when they look for partnership online – especially with phone based ‘dating’ aps – they ‘hook-up’ and consume their would-be partners like fast-food sushi. Yet again when the required result is arrived at instantly and without much effort the eventual fulfilment is transitory and fleeting – not unlike the drug high it emulates.

This, and so much more, is highlighted in this interesting short book. The author became intrigued when he saw some of his friends, both younger and contemporary, full immerse themselves in the pervasive electronic miasma we ‘naturally’ find ourselves in today. We have certainly gained but what, he asked, have we lost and how do you explain that loss to those who have never felt and will never feel it and, finally, does it actually matter. Full of interesting anecdotes and observations – both personal and larger scale this is a must read for anyone interested in how or technology is not only changing us but changing our relationships both with each other and with the very culture we swim in. Recommended.