Yair Gritzman, Week 1 - "The Answering Machine", by Philip Schultz
Week 1 - “The Answering Machine”, by Philip Schultz
In Philip Schultz’s “The Answering Machine”, Schultz discusses the place his answering machine plays in his daily life. He opens the poem by saying that he speaks with his friends “mostly to one another’s machine,” meaning that he spends more time than he would like talking to answering machines instead of to his friends. By starting the poem with this sentence, he sets up the rest of the poem to critique the use of an answering machine in households. He then explains that he “broke off with Betesy,” who I assume was his girlfriend, through the answering machine, when he impersonally told her that he could not join her on a trip to Colorado. By including this specific anecdote, he highlights the loss of personal connections that is replaced with a robotic answering machine. This aversion to conflict, he admits, often results in “greater isolation,” where people simply jump around from hearing a variety of voice messages ranging from funeral information to wedding plans without experiencing the human connection that is usually involved in sharing this information.
Schultz explains that behind each of the messages we listen to there is evidence of things “we once promised and forgot, or betrayed,” which can be overwhelming to hear before going to sleep. I think he is trying to say that it can be stressful to give people access to our attention at all times of the day because there is no way to escape and take a break from the rat-race of our lives. And then, we end up erasing these messages, no matter how important they are to our lives. This shows that the answering machines have made it harder for people to differentiate between what is important and unimportant because information is simply entering and then leaving our brains as we progress through our lives. By ending with a discussion about erasing messages, Schultz is able to show how impersonal these messages are in our lives, and give some perspective on the long term.
To me, this poem is relevant even in times when answering machines are used much less. People communicate through text message, which is simply another impersonal form of communication that avoids conflict with other human beings directly. Similar to answering machines, it is easy for feelings of loneliness to occur as people interact with each other directly less frequently. Schultz’s commentary on his answering machine is profound because it brings insight into the impersonal routine of answering machines and text messages that people often use to communicate instead of face to face communication, which is becoming more valuable.
Hi Yair,
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you are saying and the message being told in this poem. I think that humans are slowly evolving our ways of life into a more digital world, which has its pros. There are certain social norms being formed around technology, such as not breaking up with someone by answering machine (or text), and only discussing important topics in person. We all have to speak face to face more often though or else we will become like that society in the movie Wall-E.
Hi Yair. I think that this poems interpretation of life is a very dark way of looking at the world. It may be the way that the author sees the world with meaningless interactions with a machine and referring to life as a rat race to the finish, but I have a completely different view. I see phones and texts as ways of communicating when you aren't able to meet with your friend in person. And I don't see life as a rat race to the finish, but as a chance to fulfill your purpose or meaning so that you could leave the world a better place because of the people you impacted through your own actions and ideas/creations you left behind.
ReplyDeleteHey Yair!
ReplyDeleteI thought this was an interesting topic you chose to write about. I agree with the idea that human interaction becoming more limited as a result of a growing technological world can have many negative consequences. I think personal face-to-face interactions are very important both for social and emotional wellbeing. By the same token, I also believe that a growing technological world is not a bad thing. Humans can communicate much quicker and effectively, the average lifespan has shot up, and many difficult tasks have become simpler, all due to technology and innovation. Do you think social interactions will continue to get worse and worse as time goes on, or will society recognize the significance of engaging with others in person rather than over a machine?
WOW! What a powerful message from this poem. It is a good point - how often are we sitting with other people, but everyone is staring at their phones? Even when we are together, technology is keeping us apart. Such a great topic.
ReplyDelete