We are sitting in a hostel lounge, chilling out after a long day of sightseeing. Around us currently 5-6 people on big comfortable sofas – all with their laptops, or, the trendiest of them, with IPads. Marc and I are bringing down the statistics, as we only have 0.5 computer per capita. But since I have taken the computer from Marc, he keeps asking: “so what are you writing?” and “And what are you writing now?”, which makes me think that maybe we should have brought 2 laptops instead of one…
This morning we noticed that several people preferred to have their breakfasts in front of their computers, rather than with other guests of the hostel Marc observed that nowadays people often prefer to stay in touch with their friends from far away rather than with people physically around them. And this evening seems to confirm his theory – half of the people around us are currently on Facebook, chatting with their friends. So everybody is chatting, and yet, it is dead-silent in the lobby.
Marc is saying that it is a sign of times. He says that it was different when we were young. I’m of a different opinion – partially because I don’t like to be thrown into Marc’s remarks about what was it like “when we were young” –I’m not yet 30 so I like to think that I am still young. And partially because I choose to think that computers enhance human interaction rather than inhibit it.
So I explained to Marc that this hostel is different: most of the guests in our hostel are not your everyday traveler. There are a lot of international students who stay here for several months and need to do their homework every night. They probably don’t have time for empty chats. And, more importantly, the hostel doesn’t have a bar, or rather has a very teasing bar that is closed because the liquor license has not arrived yet. I bet, I explain to Marc, that once
Marc is ready to give the hostels of today a benefit of a doubt. But if our next experiences in hostels are similar to this one, I will be willing to admit that my mentality might be closer to Marc’s generation than to the “youth of today”. Although I will never go as far as to admit that I’m actually the same generation as Marc!
I looked at all these young people typing hectically at their laptops. Three were sitting on the same sofas. They sat side by side without even introducing each other.
ReplyDelete"Silence like a cancer grows" wrote Simon and Garfunkel in the majestic "Sound of silence". Internet brought us closer to people who live thousands of miles away from us. One cannot survive on vacation without Facebook. Such a feeling of loneliness!
Yet, we are unwilling to initiate dialogue with people who sit next to us. Strange world.
"People talking without speaking"
"People hearing without listening"
Simon and Garfunkel's great hymn is truly prescient.
Ah! quelle drôle d'auberge de jeunesse! Mon backpacking remonte à quelques années, mais je n'ai jamais rencontré que des voyageurs avides de discussions philosophiques... Donc, je prends pour Ania: l'alcool, ça rapproche. Alex XX
ReplyDeleteHahahaha! Très rigolo, Alex! :)
ReplyDeleteBe careful what you say Ania, I'm older than Marc...! ;)
ReplyDeleteI think both of you are right... it's not black and white and it's dangerous to generalize. :)
Peu importe nos opinions, vous écrivez tous les deux très bien et vos observations ne feront qu'alimenter nos soupers fort bien arrosés, où tous voudront refaire le monde.....encore SVP!! Linda
ReplyDelete