Editorial: Technological reality bytes

Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2005 | 8:08 a.m.

Apple introduced a video iPod earlier this month, giving people a portable mechanism with which they can download and watch their favorite ABC or Disney television shows. Miss last night's episode of "Desperate Housewives"? No problem. Just log onto the Internet and download it into a gadget the size of a bar of hotel soap.

For now, it only downloads ABC and Disney shows. But this newest techie toy is adding another element of choice in a society where we already can dive into cyberspace and immerse ourselves in a cultural comfort zone composed of only the music we want to hear and the discussions and news with which we agree.

With a few mouse clicks we can store it all in objects that fit into the palms of our hands, and listen or watch wherever we go.

We have at our fingertips a world of information. But instead of being more broad-minded, it seems our society is more polarized. We have so many choices, but many of us choose to tune out -- even in public places. We don't have to be polite or stand in the other guy's shoes. We don't even have to acknowledge he exists.

The constant communication ability also opens vast new opportunities to interact with each other. Yet, the more connected we've become electronically, the further apart we seem to have grown in person. The people at the end of the wire are real, while those standing directly in front of us become things.

We take a cell phone call in the grocery checkout, rather than speak to the clerk. We send e-mail rather than walk across the room to chat with a co-worker. Our children create and maintain entire relationships online or through text messages.

It is an exciting time for technology, and there are so many new ways in which to organize, monitor and compartmentalize our lives. Still, it seems we should remind ourselves that, even in the 21st century, there is no battery-powered substitute for the sound of the voice, the warmth of the handshake and the genuine smile of a friend we greet face to face.