Life in the Virtual Fast Lane

I am wondering if everyone has their own pace of life, a dynamic that is uniquely theirs. Mine these days does not seem to fall in with the speed that everyone and everything around me wants things to be done. My boss, family, colleagues, friends, teachers, emails, letters, bills, even magazines all seem to be whizzing around at break-neck speed, making some kind of demand on my time and attention. I feel quite dizzy by it all, and although the New Year has barely got underway, I want to get off at the next stop and let it go on without me.

My son is now more independant than he ever was and has little need of as much attention from me than when he was younger. I used to think that when he was grown that I would have more time to devote to myself. The truth is that I remember the days when I would just sit and play games with him or read him stories and I do not think that I look back with rose tinted glasses when I say that my pace of life seemed then to be a lot more graceful and smooth.

I believe that over the past decade we have grown more accustomed to immediacy within our lifestyles. Mobile phones put us in touch directly no matter when or where; access to the website now on our ipods and phones give us information quite literally at our fingertips so that we no longer have to ponder to recall a name or song or film title or wait until we reach the library to find something out.

The google map websites can place us more or less anywhere for a birdseye view of life on the other side of the world if we so wish it. The wealth of music, film, literature or art can be viewed or heard at the touch of a button without having to book or go and buy in the shops and wait for a date in the future. We have virtual games and websites that give us a sense of affecting our circumstances without even having to actually walk and meet and talk.

The list is endless and no doubt there is more to add to it. I will compare this feeling of everything in my life being so much more speedier than it used to be with another observation that I believe is common to many. When I go back to my home town in a rural part of the UK, I cannot quite get used to how slow everything seems to be there. The traffic rolls by in slow motion, the people have more time to chat and pass the time of day, folk are polite and orderly when they are walking in the town centre and I notice the change particularly when I return to the city where life reverts once again to fast-forward.

Maybe we are entering an age where our collective experience of virtual IT time is having an impact on the speed of our actual life in real time, and I am wondering how much faster we as human beings will be able to take the pace without it having a detrimental effect on our real life relationships and communities.