The Indoor Generation
OP-Ed
Isaw someone say trivially in his or her memoir that history is a continuous chain of events and each of those nonstop events is inscribed in a particular generational segment. Those historical layers of different generations have been given their names: War Generation, Baby Boomers, Generations X, Y and Z… it is said that there is also Generation I – the Information Generation, the children of the Information Age.
Being first in something particular is a characteristic thought of every generation. The generational self-particularization is based on the belief that all of us, in our own generational time, have done something that was first in human history. Oftentimes, the sentiment of being first is true and justified, but, just as often, it has nothing to do with reality.
My generation has been part of many first-made historical events that determined progress as such. The subsequent generations also demonstrated their being first in a particular field.
What does the I-Generation look like? What feature makes them first in doing something noticeably outstanding? My personal attitude is that the I-Generation could qualify as an Indoor Generation too, thus making the letter ‘I’ doubly relevant: Information Indoor Generation, hereinafter referred to as IIG. This abbreviation is my own invention, not yet patented. I only wonder if it is good or bad to be an IIG member. Neither good nor bad – it is strange! And this is purely my personal opinion. IIG members want to be enclosed in four walls, endlessly gazing either at the screen of their computers or cell-phones, messaging round-the-clock something that might matter or not. I’m not saying they are out of touch. Just the contrary: they are very much in touch with the rest of the world, but the touch is not real: it is only a virtual reality that simulates a realistic experience.
Screen-gazing happens anywhere; at home or when guesting at somebody else’s place, during meals or concerts, in movie theaters or in the street, in bed or bathroom, on a train or aboard a plane, in lessons and during the breaks, when dancing or when walking up and down the stairs. In a word, screen-gazing has become a viral sickness which becomes more and more infectious every second. The IIG community is ready to stop going out completely, and live their lives in that weird virtual reality which is little by little overwhelming the entire world, including Georgia.
My concern is the effect on products that are necessary for human survival. The word ‘product’ in this context has a collective meaning, including everything that comes out of human hands. What is the IIG going to do to survive? Just gaze at their screens and forget about survival exigencies? What about human contact with nature? Do they recognize the need for our being part of nature? Or they are going to feed themselves only with information produced and used by the IIG? Maybe they hope that the world is going to be mechanized so utterly with their help that the current natural demands of a human being are no longer relevant.
The IIG might be geniuses of their kind, but the developed informational skills are not the feeders of a human. It is a fact that something odd is happening with the kids whose noses are buried in screens on a permanent basis. The scientific, technical and informational development is good, but not enough to physically survive and, moreover, not enough to generate happiness. The happiness generated in virtual reality may seem like happiness, but I doubt it feels like happiness.
I’m not against progress. I’m against losing the main thing that we humans possess: the ability to be happy, morally and physically, as we have always been. The IIG style and way of generating happiness through screens is dry and fragile and may someday break.
Nugzar B. Ruhadze