Connected or Disconnected?

This post was written by a friend of mine, S.

Ever thought about what it means to connect? To disconnect?

I learned today what it means, or rather, how far from connection we are, on King's Highway.
According to ''dictionary.com'' (how connected we are-online dictionary), connection means:
"A relationship in which a person, thing, or idea is linked or associated with something else"
or
"The action of linking one thing with another: "connection to the Internet".
Note the "connection to the internet"

We've become so plugged in that we've unplugged ourselves.
So connected, that we've disconnected. Instead of a person, we're a number. Only it's a number different than those our parents associated with. Instead, it's a number we've branded ourselves with.

So what happened on King's Highway today?

There was an earthquake in Virginia today. The shocks spread far and I felt it in Brooklyn. I walked out of my office building a little later and found King's Highway going crazy. I guess the cell phone towers shook also, or the networks were overloaded...not sure what, but a lot of cell phones weren't working properly. I saw people shaking them, flipping them open and shut, and smart me decided to walk into the cell phone store to take care of a different problem and met many people there complaining of no service.

What defined our world's craziness was the comment from the lady behind the counter. we were talking about the earthquake in general and where we were, when she suddenly commented:
"I felt nothing. I was in the nail salon when everyone was screaming and running out. I was just busy on my phone. I felt no floor moving and saw no walls shaking. I thought they all was crazy!"
We're so busy being occupied that we've become too preoccupied to be occupied.
So busy trying to talk the raid that we miss it as it just moves on past us.

I always wondered what would happen if cell phones would stop working. I think the world would go crazy. The problem is I don't have to think it. I know it already from the comments I overheard:
"They make it as if the world is going to end."
"They're going crazy."
"The people can't handle it."
"What is everyone going to do?"

And finally, I saw the woman on the payphone.

You're all either thinking "So not a big deal," or clutching your phones and checking it, thinking "I could never handle it."

Try it.


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