It
is a general belief that always being available, as it is the custom
nowadays, can be blessing and curse at once. Why should it be a
curse, you wonder? You couldn't imagine to live without modern means
of communication? The idea of doing without your phone for a longer
period of time makes you uneasy, the mere thought of deleting your
facebook account sends a shiver down your spine? Then it might be
high time that you occupy yourself with Henry David Thoreau's
“Walden; or, Life in the Woods”. The ideas and convictions
expressed in this book, published in 1854, are by no means outdated.
On the contrary, applying them in modern times gives us new insights
into our current way of living and shows it from a new perspective.
And although we can of course only guess what a deceased writer and
philosopher like Thoreau would think about our modern world, it is
safe to assume that he would not approve of our social media system,
neither of all our other technological advancements.
In
his first chapter “Economy” he clearly advocates the idea that
improvement is not always for the better, and that not everything
that is new automatically outranks the preceding: “As
with our colleges, so with a hundred 'modern improvements'; there is
an illusion about them; there is not always a positive advance.”
(Thoreau 29)
There
are surely some technological advancements that probably not even Thoreau
would venture to criticise
in earnest, for instance in medicine; yet a large part of today's
comforts and advancements has to do with communication, globalization
and entertainment. Thoreau's attitude towards news and gossip—which
for him is more or less the same—becomes clear in his second
chapter “Where I lived, and what I lived for”: “[...] I am sure
that I never read any memorable news in a newspaper. […] To
a philosopher all news, as it is called, is gossip […] If
one may judge who rarely looks into the newspapers, nothing new does
ever happen [...]” (Thoreau 52f). To him, news is not only useless
but also uninteresting. Therefore it can be taken for granted that he
would consider new inventions like television, telephone, computer,
internet, mobile phones, and social media, that serve to improve and
accelerate communication and the exchange of information between
people around the world, as needless as well. Thoreau even goes one
step further and leaves no doubt of what he would think of what we
consider today's advantages: “Our inventions are wont to be pretty
toys, which distract our attention
from serious things.” (Thoreau 29)
Does
that mean our technological advances only serve to lead us astray and
further from the truth? Although I would not want to miss certain
technological advancements one cannot say that they have brought us
any closer to real truths. On the whole, we are certainly not more
likely to experience God, to discover the purpose of our existence or
the meaning of life. Mankind does not live more happily because they
can tweet “good night”; neither has television been very
enriching for our conversations. With regard to the search for the
truth of life one can't help but agree with Thoreau: these
advancements are not only unnecessary but even a procrastinating
distraction. Thoreau tried to live ascetically and minimalisticly in
order “to front only the essential facts of life”, and
because he “did not wish to live what was not life” (Thoreau 51).
Clearly a society as dependent on technology, materialistic and superficial as ours could not
be further from this ideal and must, therefore, be considered full of
“shams and delusions” (Thoreau 53).
Works cited:
Thoreau, Henry David. Walden or Life in the Woods. USA: Popular Classics Publishing, 2012. Print.
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