In the movie “Up in the Air” George Clooney’s character Ryan Bingham is constantly on a plane. He is trying to earn 10M sky miles for being a prestigious frequent flier. He is avoiding his family, not creating friends and basically living in isolation.
He downsizes companies for a living. In one of the talks he gave to a person he was firing was, “Kids love athletes because they follow their dreams.” It is hard to believe this life was the life he dreamed of as a kid.
What is technology doing for us today? Are we basically using it to have contact with the people we want or to avoid contact all together?
Ryan Bingham is stuck in his ways. He loves the air and when he goes back to his apartment there isn’t any color. It is sterile and less decorated than the places he visits. It isn’t home by any means. But when he discovers what true happiness is he decides to go after it. SPOILER ALERT: He is thrown a loop because the woman he is interested in is married with two kids.
With Skype available and all the social networks. One of his quotes in the movie was, “I don’t think a Myspace page requires you to rewire an entire company up in the air.” Which has me thinking? With social media and companies adapting. Skype could be used to seriously alter someone’s life. Will there be the one on one contact which we used to have before we became hyper connected?
He ends the movie with this voice-over, “Tonight, most people will be welcomed home by jumping dogs and squealing kids. Their spouses will ask about their day, and tonight they’ll sleep. The stars will wheel forth from their daytime hiding places and one of those lights, slightly brighter than rest, will by my wingtip passing over.”
Do you use technology as an escape? Do you use it to weed out people you don’t want in your life? Do you hide behind it? Is it part of your dreams or are you just along for the ride?
Pretty good read, Up in the Air was probably my favorite movie from last year I loved it (FYI though, you might want to spoiler the big loop that gets thrown his way–didn’t see it coming when I saw it and wouldn’t want that ruined for anyone else 😉 ).
As for technology, I think it’s both an escape and a hindrance. Most people can (and do) use it as an escape in the sense that it can serve as a distraction when you get into a conversation on twitter, Facebook, or even just playing a few hands of poker online. It’s also a hindrance in the sense that it gets harder and harder for anyone to truly get away. If you know someone on multiple platforms, it also means that someone has multiple options to use to get a hold of you…back in the day it usually only meant leaving a message, paging someone (ha), or dropping a voicemail. It’s a double-edged sword, being connected–it makes the world smaller everyday.
I probably should have inserted a spoiler but it is 2010 and I figured the majority of people probably have already seen it. I mean I am doing a review of a DVD and not the new release.
Like the young girl in the movie… She gets dumped via text message. It is sort like in the movie, “He’s Just Not that Into You.” When dating can be more involved and getting to know someone between text, phone, facebook and twitter.
Communication can be a challenge.
Funny, I just watched that movie last night and read your blog today.
I agree that social media tools and other technology provide a way to meet and stay in touch with people, and I like that you get to choose your level of depth. Some like the surface conversations. Frankly, I’m just too busy for that. If someone from high school just wants to talk to me about the weather, I’m not going to tune in very often. Yet, I’m not going to spill my guts on the wall of Facebook either. I think social media tools offer a great way to put out a general message to a group of people, but I also lilke the private messaging options to personalize your content. And of course, there’s the old fashioned telephone that still works well, and face to face meetings. In today’s busy times, we’re spread too thin to sit down and talk at length with everyone we meet. These tools help us learn more about the person so we can determine if/how/when to get to know them on a deeper level.
As for the movie, it did remind you how people often lead dual lives (online and offline) and you must be careful who you spend your time with and really check them out because a lot can be hidden during online communications.
Ryan Bingham used his job as an escape mechanism from the real world. As long as he was traveling for his job, he wasn’t home dealing with his perpetual loneliness.
I’m sure some people use technology and social networks in the same way. They may have trouble connecting with people in the real world, so they connect online instead because they feel more comfortable. I think those who do that are hurting themselves in the long run because nothing will ever compare to a relationship in real life.
Technology provides amazing opportunities to build relationships with people whose paths you may have never crossed if it weren’t for connecting online. In my opinion, it’s still important to develop those relationships offline. I understand some people are hindered by distance, but there are plenty of other ways to continue building the relationship outside of social networks (talk on the phone, Skype with each other, etc.).