technophobia
[tek-nuh-foh-bee-uh]
1. abnormal fear of or anxiety about the effects of advanced technology.
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Evan entered the small apartment, only to be greeted by
total darkness. The lights were off, the
windows had probably been either painted black or covered in some other way,
and there was no hint of light from anything else. There wasn’t even so much as the glow of a
digital alarm clock.
He did
his best to navigate using only the limited light from the hallway behind
him. He couldn’t get very far though
before that to dissipated into darkness.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his smartphone, turning it on
to use the screen’s light as a flashlight.
“For
god sake, turn that thing off.” Said a
terrified voice from the corner of the room.
Evan shined his light on the source, finding Harvey, the owner of the apartment,
huddled in the corner. The disheveled looking
young man cowered from the light of the phone like a vampire from a cross.
“What’re
you doing there? And why are all the
lights off?” Evan asked.
“Put
that damned thing away, then we’ll talk.”
Harvey spat. Evan cocked an
eyebrow, but slipped the phone back into his pocket, once again plunging the
room into near total darkness. Thanks to
the still open door, he could at least make out basic shapes.
“Okay,
so why’d you call me here, why are all the lights off, and why can’t I use my
phone?”
“I
called you here to save you, man.”
Harvey said.
“From
what?”
“That
thing in your pocket, that’s what.”
“Oh
yes, my phone. Because it is so horrible
and dangerous that I require rescue from it.”
Evan said, letting his sarcasm drip freely from his tongue.
“Don’t
laugh man, you don’t know. Technology,
man, technology. It’s going
rampant. It’s gonna be the end of us
all.”
“Huh?”
“Yeah,
man. It’s progressing too fast. It’ll end everything if it keeps going.”
Evan
didn’t say anything for a few seconds.
He couldn’t believe his ears. A
few weeks ago, Harvey had been almost obsessed with the latest and greatest
gadget. Now he was acting like some kind
of doomsayer.
“Seriously? You seriously think our phones are going to
end everything?”
“Not
right now, no. But soon, yeah.”
“How do
you figure?”
“You
know how fast technology’s progressing, right?
Well, that can only lead to bad stuff, man. Oh, sure, now everything’s fine. Now it’s just checking Facebook and emails
and stuff on the go. But soon it’s going
to be much, much more. Pretty soon we’re
plugging our brains in to the computers.
Then the tech uses that to become us.
To get better than us. And then
we can kiss our butts goodbye. Mark my
words, it’ll happen.”
“Oh,
come on. You’ve let Hollywood get to
you. There’s no way that’ll happen.”
“You
think so? Look around, man. It’s already happening. They’ve already got machines and computers
and stuff that can do almost anything we can, only better. They’ve even got computers that can mimic us
well enough that people can’t tell the difference. It’s only a matter of time before AI comes
around, and then BAM!” Harvey banged the floor next to him in emphasis to his
words. “It’s good by humanity.”
“Come
on, Harv, you can’t tell me you’re scared of our phones ruling over us.”
“I
should be asking you why you aren’t. It’s
terrifying, man. I mean, think about
it. Right now we use them, but pretty
soon it’s going to be them using us. And
that won’t last for long.”
Evan
let out a light groan and rubbed his forehead.
The conversation had only lasted a few minutes, and yet a very
pronounced headache was already forming.
“Okay,
okay, I get it. We should all abandon
our phones and computers so they don’t rise up against us.”
“No,
man, you don’t get it. It’s not just the
computers, man. It’s everything. Technology is everywhere. We put it in our homes, in our pets, even in
our bodies. It’s everywhere, and it’s
always getting better and better. Sooner
or later, all that’ll come back to bite us.”
“Wait,
seriously? Is that why the lights are
off?”
“Well,
yeah. I mean, pretty soon all those
lights are gonna be, like, the eyes of the technological uprising. Why give them any more of an advantage than
they’ll already have, am I right?”
“You
really believe this, don’t you?”
“Why
shouldn’t I?”
Evan
was at a loss for words. One of his best
friends had become some kind of technophobe.
Either that or an anti-technology doomsayer. Maybe a bit of both? Either way, Evan didn’t want to give the guy
any more ammo to use. Or attention to
fuel his drive. If he did that, Harvey
may end up with a cardboard sign draped around him urging people to through their
phones away or something similar. He
made a mental note to get Harvey some kind of professional help later on.
“Okay,
you know what, I can’t listen to this right now.” Evan said. “Do me a favor, would you? Really think about what you’re saying here,
okay. And when you come to your senses,
call me. We can hang out and laugh about
this once you do. Until then, I’m going to a place where I can actually see.”
Evan
left the apartment, using the light from the hall as a guide. All the while, Harvey continued to rant and
rave about the terrors of technology, and how it would doom all of
mankind. Evan did his best to tune out
the mad ravings. Once he was in the hall,
he closed the door, letting Harvey wallow in the darkness. He then wrote out a quick memo on his phone,
reminding himself to call someone better equipped to deal with psychological
problems like that.
*****************************
Not sure if this could really be called a case of technophobia or something different, but oh well. It could be just a case of very acute paranoia as well, but I choose to think it fits the words well enough.
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