|
 This
column is not about filmmaking as we know it. But it is about life in
the digital age. For me the problem started with a red light that
suddenly appeared one night in September, mysteriously and without
warning, on both my TV sets. When I could not sleep, I looked over to
the TV set in my bedroom and a red light I had not noticed before
stared me back in the face. I tried turning the set on and off several
times. The red light remained. I went into my living room and the red
light also shown brightly on that TV set. Doing what I did in the
bedroom made no difference. The red lights remained.
Then I looked around my apartment. I have broadband through my cable
provider. Attached to one TV I have a cable box, a CD/DVD player and a
fast-becoming-obsolete VHS player. A green light was on the VHS
player. As much as I tried, I could not turn it off. I live on the
Upper West Side of Manhattan. Along with the just mentioned digital
devices, I have a microwave, two telephones, one power strip under my
desk that is always on, its red light happily glowing, a digital clock
and my broadband connection that blinks all the time. The light that
shines through most of my necessary gadgets is green, not a real
green, mind, but a hazy green as if from another planet.
When I lived in the suburbs, I had even more digital devices. There
were at least eight telephones, 2 microwaves, five TV sets, four
digital clocks, two refrigerators, two freezers, an automatic garage
door, the garage opener to make it work, an automatic,
in-ground watering system, several computers and probably a few more
devices that have slipped through the cracks that were always on.
Those red lights, my blinking clock and actually all things digital
are invading my space and I don’t know how to stop the onslaught.
Digital is the key. Everything I use to keep my life modern is always
on. I can’t turn anything off unless I pull one of the many plugs
controlling the various appliances. Each lighted piece of equipment
uses tiny, almost infinitesimal watts of power that we ignore because
alone we believe their use does not add up to very much. But think of
all the devices in the world that uses these small bits of power.
Think, too, and how the watts they use add up, especially with the
high price of oil. You get the idea. Or I hope you do.
That is only part of my problem. I can’t help but think of Franz
Kafka, H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe, Philip K Dick, and Thomas M.
Disch, maybe even Stephen King. Truth, the truth I am witnessing, is
stranger than fiction. Consider the following theory. I wonder if
these devices, that we bring into our homes and our, lives many of
which are necessary, are there for another purpose? Are they quietly
and secretly watching us? Are they recording our every move? If they
are, what are they doing with the information? Are they storing it for
future use? Are they cataloguing it? Are they selling it to marketing
experts or to another planet? Could they be enjoying everything they
see for their own pleasure? Unless their existence is so empty, I
don’t see what they could be getting from all those empty hours and
all those straight on views of mostly mundane lives. One could believe
that in each location, my past home, and my current home, in hotels
and restaurants, where these devices abound, each one records
everything we do. I do. Making a film, perhaps?
You may not believe any of this. If you do not, I won’t argue with
you. Who is to say I am wrong and you are right. Why, though, are
those lights, both the red and the green, always on? If they are not
watching me and you, your friends, family and neighbors, what are they
doing? I refuse to believe they are there to remind us of their
machine’s presence. There has to be something more.
The energy these billions of digital devices use probably is beyond
calculation. Consider all the barrels of oil wasted on recording
mostly unsuspecting lives. Do people understand what is going on? I
doubt it. I know those eyes peering out from the innards of all modern
machines use far more energy than anyone realizes. This is a story
worth pursuing for an enterprising reporter. There are others far
better equipped to handle the machinery of statistics than I. They
should chase this story. Advanced math, physics and chemistry are
important here. Someone knows the answer to how much energy the
digital machines in our homes use.
For every new invention, another digital device quickly pops into use.
Pre-digital devices in homes and offices are becoming obsolete. Those
red and green lights follow everyone everywhere. Can we halt the
invasion of the energy suckers? Probably not. Perhaps it is time to
bring back the slide rule, the plastic pocket case and leaky ballpoint
pen. Perhaps. No matter. It is always worth invoking the spirit of
Kafka, Poe, Lovecraft and their kind. I am certain these geniuses of
the absurd and the weird would have has a great time working these
elements into their stories. The circle we are in is vicious.
Remember the red lights on my TV sets that stayed on no matter what I
did? Before I could call my broadband provider, I woke up the other
morning to see, to my amazement, that they had disappeared. Gone.
There were no more red lights on my TV sets. Days later as I write,
the red lights are still off. I will not make that phone call. I plan
to leave well enough alone, at least for now. I am sure the red lights
are recharging, getting ready for another onslaught. Until the red
lights return, which they surely will, I will leave well enough alone.
Only time will tell. Then I will cry for help. If I can.
Post Script.
I spoke too soon. The other morning I woke with a start. Just when I
thought everything was fine, once again, staring at me from my TV in
the bedroom, and the other in the living room, was – not the tiny red
light, but where the red light had been, a clock. For the life of me,
I cannot turn it off. I do not want it. I did not ask for it. Is it
watching me? Am I paranoid or realistic? You be the judge.
.........................................................................................................................
At NBC News for 35 years, Ron Steinman was bureau chief
in Saigon, Hong Kong and London, was a senior producer on Today and wrote
and produced for Sunday Today. At ABC News Productions, he produced
and wrote documentaries for A&E, TLC, Discovery, Lifetime and the
History Channel. He has a Peabody, a National Headliner award, a
National Press Club award, a International Documentary Festival Gold
Camera Award, two American Women in Radio & Television awards and
has been nominated for five Emmy's. He is a partner in
Douglas/Steinman Productions, whose latest documentary, "Luboml: My
Heart Remembers," aired on PBS' WLIW/21 and the History Channel in
Israel, April 29, 2003. He is the author of, "The Soldiers 'Story",
"Women in Vietnam," and most recently, "Inside Television's First
War: A Saigon Journal," University of Missouri Press, 2002. |
