standing outside a broken phonebooth with TIME on my hand

October 14, 2006

In other centuries human beings wanted to be saved, or improved, or freed, or educated. But in our century, they want to be entertained. The great fear is not of disease or death, but of boredom. A sense of time on our hands, a sense of nothing to do. A sense that we are not amused.

 

I got this line from the book Timeline by Michael Crichton. This is why I like reading fiction more than those non-fiction books. Not only does it tickle my imagination but most of the time I learn something from it which always surprises me. Back to the above statement. The author then went on about humanity seeking something authentic and looking back to the past for it. That’s the whole premise of the book by the way, about the past. But I haven’t got that far processing my thoughts yet. I’m still stuck with the above words, coz it rings true. I think the author got it right about people nowadays being allergic to boredom. Observe the trend that the technology is leaning into. Music and video at the palm of your hands anytime, anywhere and other modern gizmos. Not that I’m against all these technological advances but I just got struck by the words above. What’s wrong with not being amused and with having time in our hands? Why are we so used to being busy? Multitasking? Doing numerous things at the same time? Why do we measure our worth by the amount of things we do? Shouldn’t it really be about having something worthwhile to do instead of just having something to do?

I don’t have the answer to these questions but I really think it’s worth pondering upon.

Song in my head:Standing outside a broken phonebooth with money on my hand by the Primitive Radio Gods