Martin Ayon

It has been long time since the last time I got up early in a Saturday morning to spend the next 4 hours watching cartoons on TV.

My favorite cartoon show was “The Jetsons”. I cannot remember having a favorite character but I do remember enjoying the entire family always connected among them and their friends. Everybody was a push of a button away. They were able to see the image of the person on the other side of the call and interacted with the caller in many different ways and always face-to-face.

There was also a maid called: Rosey who took care of the mundane household chores and she was always watching everybody’s needs, including Astro the dog. I always wondered what will be like to “drive” one of those flying cars or go from the entrance of the house to another room without walking, just by standing on the house conveyor.

The Jetsons were the first ever show broadcasted in color by ABC and initially aired in 1962-1963. Finally in 2011 our current technology reality is getting closer and closer to what the Jetsons had on the cartoon series. Almost all the technology and electronic amenities they enjoyed is available to us or will soon be available.

I came across some video material produced by Microsoft that makes me rejoice at what is finally coming from that company and their vision of the future. Even though Rosey is not in this video, the connected family is as well as the constant connection between each member of the family. The human interaction with technology in our daily life has grown exponentially in the latest years and the magic that technology had in me at young age is also Microsoft’s vision of the future.

In recent years the Internet has offered us the opportunity to make many new relationships on any given day. On a daily basis we can tweet, skype, update Facebook status, etc. to anyone in the world. This is great! But if we remain behind the computer and don’t make any efforts to actually meet up with anyone face-to-face, then we’re missing the whole point of: “Social Networking”.

What gives the Internet its value and power is people. But we often lose sight of that with all the other life distractions going on around us. People are the point. Not “visitors” or the number of “friends” or “likes” or whatever one constantly checks. I feel sorry for those who are alone in company and people checking their phone while out to dinner with another living, breathing human being.

Once we learn to rule our technology instead of letting it rule our day-to-day lives we will be much happier. The internet, in all it’s vastness, is just another tool, another distraction preventing us from seeing the value of being in company of others. The Internet doesn’t define us, never was meant to and could never contain what makes us who we are.

The human heart pumps warm red blood through our veins, and we should respect that.

The above cartoon by Peter Steiner has been reproduced from page 61 of July 5, 1993 issue of The New Yorker, (Vol.69 (LXIX) no. 20)only for academic discussion, evaluation, research and complies with the copyright law of the United States as defined and stipulated under Title 17 U. S. Code.