I was wondering whether to post under the prompt of Pest or Lust and went for Lust, although I could have written this under either heading. I was inspired to write having just commented on an article on WordPress Reader this morning (Five Questions…link below).
I commented ‘… writers are truly ‘Guardians of Memory’ (a quote I credit to a recent Future Learn Course). The article above is thought provoking and nicely paints a personal experience relating to a major transition in modern society. We of a certain age can remember a time before twitter et al but there will be others reading this who may gain a valuable insight into a recently elapsed era of human experience, namely, the world before the internet.’
I remember driving to work, and hearing on the radio that giant cables were being laid on the sea floor and that this technological revolution was going to change the world. I couldn’t for the life of me envision how. A few years later, in the early days of email, a senior at work said that she organised her work to check her emails on a weekly basis. It sounded a good idea to us all at that time. Waiting for anything these days now seems an inconceivable concept (the pestilence of immediacy-‘Oh let me just interrupt our valuable conversation and pick up my smart phone to google that fact, even though you don’t really want it…’ ).
Yesterday, I was at a thirty year wedding anniversary party in London. The speeches kicked off and the first comment had us all spluttering into our glasses of fizz. ‘ It was love at first sight when mum and dad met thirty years ago…on Tinder!’ Of course Tinder wasn’t around then and the thought of any of the couples sitting around at the gathering, having met on any on line dating site, was a stretch for the imagination.
People can now satisfy their lust with a quick swipe left. It is another matter entirely to have such ready access to someone who knows you well and with whom you can share a comfortable silence or a hearty, eye to eye, laugh. The wonders of the digital age are astounding but, the basic hierarchy of human need (Maslow’s hierarchy, Wikipedia) seems to me to be largely neglected. I can only surmise at the link between this and the reported recent rapid rise in mental illness, especially amongst the young. I believe that this neglected pile of human needs should have a warning sign on it, ‘Ignore at your peril’.
Lust
NiaSharmaFiction 