You have no doubt heard many bewail the lack of attention, or ability to reflect quietly, in young people today. People go about constantly plugged into their phones, ipods, the internet as if, if one is not constantly in contact with others, one is lost. Bloggers know all about that. On the one hand, this is a sign of the growth in various forms of human reciprocity, which is not necessarily a bad thing; indeed it's often for the good. On the other, one wonders if people are losing the ability to slow down time and reflect on serious works of thinking and arts that might provide models for integrating some significant part of the information flowing through them, so as to become more complete persons themselves, able to deal with the many clashing imperatives, the ethical and cognitive paradoxes, that constitute our humanity, all the more so in an age of massive and instant interpersonal communications.
This is just to preface a short note: Google has added a new feature to Gmail. You can now add a panic button to your Gmail service, so that any mail you send will be held for five seconds before it is really sent; in those five seconds you can cancel the mail (if you are quick with the fingers in a panic).
No doubt we've all sent emails we later regretted. While I'm not hooked into facebook and other social networking sites, I'm not that much older than those immersed in them; anyway, I find it baffling as I try to conceive how I could get into or out of a state of discombobulation (if that's what it is) that I would know or intuit or fear, within five seconds, that I shouldn't have sent a mail. My moments of madness tend to last longer than that!
Is this new service a sign of some quick-thinking, but somehow not reflective (in advance), generation, or of some deeper addiction of message ping-ponging that is somewhat, if not always in advance, controllable?
Maybe I am reading too much into the market that seeks to provide people with endless new features for their electronic products. I guess there will always be people who can be convinced they need a little panic insurance.
This is just to preface a short note: Google has added a new feature to Gmail. You can now add a panic button to your Gmail service, so that any mail you send will be held for five seconds before it is really sent; in those five seconds you can cancel the mail (if you are quick with the fingers in a panic).
No doubt we've all sent emails we later regretted. While I'm not hooked into facebook and other social networking sites, I'm not that much older than those immersed in them; anyway, I find it baffling as I try to conceive how I could get into or out of a state of discombobulation (if that's what it is) that I would know or intuit or fear, within five seconds, that I shouldn't have sent a mail. My moments of madness tend to last longer than that!
Is this new service a sign of some quick-thinking, but somehow not reflective (in advance), generation, or of some deeper addiction of message ping-ponging that is somewhat, if not always in advance, controllable?
Maybe I am reading too much into the market that seeks to provide people with endless new features for their electronic products. I guess there will always be people who can be convinced they need a little panic insurance.
5 comments:
There used to be an expression, "it will be done in a New York minute", used to suggest a short amount of time.
In the 19th century, Mark Twain (I think it was him) recommended waiting a fortnight before sending any letter written in anger.
I guess this is the modern-day equivalent: a "Gmail minute" to reflect on intemperate remarks...
...5 seconds!
Dang, I shouldn't have written that...
I'm glad I didn't write that, Charles. What were you thinking!?
Oh. Someone's beaming Death Rays at me. I didn't mean it.
Re-reading the post at the Gmail blog I see that maybe this (my) entire post was written in a leisurely haste. Gmail points out that sometimes you realize that you forgot to add an attachment or address to your mail, just as soon as you posted it. I can see that happening occasionally, though five seconds is still a pretty short window. But on the larger point, 5 seconds is surely not enough to realize you have lost it to the passions. then again, what do I know...
Post a Comment