To be at the mercy of the machine!

I seem to spend a huge amount of time walking the local roads these days. That is partly due to the curious state of being semi-retired and partly due to a conscious decision to be a pedestrian rather than a motorist.

In the past time seemed critical and the need to get between two points quickly made a vehicle essential. Ditching the car and keeping to the pavement for local trips hasn’t really taken that much longer because previously unknown shortcuts provide new horizons. I have discovered parts of Torbay that I simply didn’t know existed: fascinating stuff!

This new lifestyle choice partly explains why the other morning I found myself walking down a steep hill into Paignton. As I walked three young men emerged from a house ahead of me. They were in their late teens and probably students. As they walked I found myself drifting back down ‘memory lane’ to another world. That slip was partly due to the sound of church bells from the beautiful Paignton Parish Church in the distance.

They walked in single file with heads slightly bowed and hands clasped in front of them. Through half closed eyes they looked like Benedictine monks answering the call to communion! I’m sure you can recall those images of holy men in prayer walking silently in single file.

My walking speed was a little faster than the silent trio and I soon passed them. Glancing sideways I could see that all three were thumbing smart phones or mobile devices! It would have been rude to stare at the screens but from the speed of thumb movement I suspect that they were texting. Texting for those that don’t know is a method of chatting with friends in silence via a mobile device!

Increasingly I find this obsession with mobile devices quite fascinating. As I walk my daily Torbay pilgrimages I am increasingly aware of the number of people using smart phones, tablets and other ‘toys’ as they travel. Sadly as a pedestrian I am also increasingly aware of the quite large number of people texting whilst driving. That is of course illegal but is also incredibly stupid.

Little groups of people seem not to notice each other as they sip hot drinks outside coffee shops whilst playing with smart phones. The apparent silence masks the huge amount of cyberspace chatter as they connect to other worlds. I say other worlds but that is perhaps a truth since whilst sipping a cappuccino in Brixham you can be having a real time conversation with a friend on the beach in Bali!

I make no judgement about this modern phenomenon but simply want to raise awareness. Fiction writers, including the enigmatic Philip Pullman, have allowed characters to move from one world to another. In point of fact Philip Pullman, in the Dark Materials trilogy, talks of the ‘Subtle Knife’ that actually cuts a slit in the fabric of time allowing movement between worlds or realities!

Philip Pullman : Dark Materials

My silent trio walking down that steep hill into Paignton the other morning had in many ways done exactly that. They were walking in one reality and yet living in another ‘virtual’ reality. It made me think of those monks over the centuries doing quite something similar as they walked in silent prayer. Their belief had them communicating with a divine being using prayer. Hmm.

If you have the time over the next few weeks do take a look at your fellow citizens as they navigate the day. You might become a little more aware of the large number swapping one reality for another by using mobile devices. Check out the number of drivers doing exactly that! That will send a shiver down your spine since as a pedestrian you are at the mercy of the machine. It is also quite shocking when you realise that the awareness of that immediate community in which you exist doesn’t appear on their landscape at all!

Keep the smile.

From my column published in the Herald Express 22nd July 2015