By Mark Antony Rossi

 We live in day where bold colorful commercials, intertwined between serial dramas and music playlists, are designed to significantly increase the volume on your television, radio and computer. This sonic onslaught produced by marketers to grab your attention is annoying and troublesome. A nameless somebody sitting in the hierarchy of high definition hum decided to bombard our senses into a state of sales susceptibility.

Every corner of the Earth apparently strives to make noise for connectivity purposes —but really to what end! Connectivity is not always Communication and Communication is not always Comprehension. Do we need a washing machine that talks? Do we need a comm device on a cat collar?  Why is a mini-television needed in a bathroom? I honestly don’t want a refrigerator texting me about food supplies or an automobile giving me driving advice.

Everything beeps, buzzes, and beckons our presence before any rational thought can possibly take place. How is this cacophony of commercialism a symptom of technological progress if there is little meaningful review of what is right or wrong? We begin to lose what we don’t use. A devolution rolls backward as loudness slips to lewdness which ultimately turns into lawless. Society is fast becoming an overloaded mess of thinking machines and unthinking humans.

The birdsong in the morning. The concerto in the evening. The dramatic recital of a poem at high tea. All stellar examples of natural instruments used to elevate the local surroundings. In these lyrical moments we reestablish rest and rejuvenation by cutting off a modern world foolishly equating noise with nirvana. If we thirst for knowledge and hunger for wisdom the temporary disconnect of technology is a worthy first step.

Only in the quiet time of being alone can we truly hear the harmony of the heavens. Only in the quest for quietude can we chase the darkness polluting the airwaves of the mind and make whole what distraction and distrust has torn asunder. If we are impulsive enough to engage these devices, we should be brave enough to power them off and reconnect with family and friends. At the end of the day your choices that shape your character; not your high speed modem.

Mark Antony Rossi is a poet, playwright and author of the bioethics volume “Dark Tech” now available from Amazon. His most recent plays have been produced in Liverpool and New York. http://markantonyrossi.jigsy.com