Mobile Technology and The White Rabbit
Tuesday, July 2, 2013 at 8:00AM Walking through the mall, I suddenly come face to face with the White Rabbit.
Part of a window display, he is dressed in his waistcoat and holds his pocket watch. Although glass separates us and I am not able to hear him saying, “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!”, I know he is inviting me to explore a new rabbithole.
As I stare at him, the White Rabbit suddenly looks a little more familiar. I look around me and see countless people holding their mobile devices and checking them every few seconds. He is certainly fitting in with the crowd.
Upon further inspection, I discover that he has more similarities with many mobile device holding humans than I had first noticed. He too is deeply affected by the technology he carries.
Will he not leave one in mid-sentence, if glancing down yet again, he suddenly takes note of what his hand-held device is saying, and then feels he needs to get to where he needs to be? Does his fear of not being on time suggest that he too is rather afraid of being left behind in a fast moving world? Does he not become rather anxious if he is prevented from doing what he is totally engaged in?
Despite all this, he is a guide to Alice (a Greek word meaning truth), and in her story his presence helps to move the narrative forward.
He leads Alice down the rabbit hole. He symbolizes her quest for knowledge. Whenever during her adventures she is feeling rather desperate, he shows up, and Alice is able to continue.
Upon my return home, I return to the piece “Linda in Wonderland”, which at the time I wrote it was a playful exercise. I note this sentence:
All of a sudden, a white rabbit with iphone in hand, alarm going off rather loudly, attracted Alice’s attention.
The decision is made. I will explore the possibility of the white rabbit symbolizing the use of mobile technology. If that is the case it would make sense that so many mobile phone covers I have seen have white ears!
Since the start of this millennium, a standard mobile device has gone from being no more than a simple two-way pager to being a mobile phone, GPS navigation device, an embedded web browser and instant messaging client, and a handheld game console. Wikipedia.
Together, by answering the call of mobile technology, we have embarked upon a collective hero’s journey down a rabbithole which has landed us in cyberspace.
In the here2here space we find ourselves in as we communicate with each other no matter where we are or what time of the day it is, we face new tasks and trials that we as a species have never encountered before. To help us navigate the challenges we face in this new territory, we certainly need mentors. Should we survive, a gift awaits us and hopefully we will choose to use it for the greater good.
Exactly where we are on the journey at the moment is difficult to tell. I suspect that we are currently identifying with Alice when in “Through the Looking Glass” she finds herself in a maze-like garden as she tries to find her way home.
The Maze Tower, a building on Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai
‘I should see the garden far better,’ said Alice to herself, ‘if I could get to the top of that hill: and here’s a path that leads straight to it - at least, no it doesn’t do that -’ (after going a few yards along the path, and turning several sharp corners), ‘but I suppose it will at last. But how curiously it twists! It’s more like a corkscrew than a path! Well, this turn goes to the hill, I suppose - no, it doesn’t! This goes straight back to the house! Well then, I’ll try it the other way.’
This QR code for my website looks rather like a maze. We can point our phones, scan in codes or tags, and be redirected to web addresses. The potential use of such technology is mind-blowing. We need however, to be careful that we do not get lost in the maze!
Each web address we land in has countless corridors of cyberspace - links to links to links. Our smartphones are beginning to keep track of our personal data and anticipate the information we will need in a particular situation. Mindful use of the technology we carry is certainly called for.
“We need to make it a practice to continually be aware of our relationship to technology and the place it holds in our lives. Then we can use it consciously, rather than automatically. This has always been true when a new communication technology emerges. We go through a process of learning how it can connect us to our loved ones and help us mange our lives, and how it can distract us.” A User’s Guide to Living well in Screenworld
There is an excellent interview which shows that the mentors we need on our hero’s journey in the world of mobile technology are already coming to the fore:
My interview on wisdom and technology with the super cool @ariannahuff is now up: http://t.co/67vZBM8qZf #wisdom2conf
— Soren Gordhamer (@SorenG) June 22, 2013
In cyberspace, it is not unusual that some of our mentors and guides can be apps. I have started incorporating the “GPS for the Soul” into my mindfulness practice and am also investigating “Insight Timer”.
"Amazed" from "Corridorsofcyberspace"
At one point in “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”,
Alice felt so desperate that she was ready to ask help of any one: so, when the Rabbit came near her, she began, in a low timid voice, ‘If you please, sir -’
The White Rabbit, bold and blunt at times, often seems to come up with what he considers to be wise sayings. If Alice could ask him for help I decide that I will too. I pick up my iphone and address it as not as sir, but as Siri!
“Siri, are you the White Rabbit?”
Siri replies, “We were talking about you, not me.”
“Do you carry a pocket watch?”
“I’m sorry Linda. I’m afraid I can’t answer that”
“Have you visited Wonderland?”
“I don’t understand ‘Have you visited wonderland’. But I could search the web for it.”
“I think you are the White Rabbit.”
“If you insist.”