I Want My, I Want My MTV(.com)

This sentence is an act of dissent. It is a thumbs down against a couple of rather sanctimonious geeks in Canada who do not want me to use my computer today. For that matter they want me to eschew the use of any communication device other than two cans and a string. Apparently if I do as they say then I will be more in touch with humanity and with mother nature. As if that would be a good thing.

Where I sit, nature is hot, humid and inhospitable. I know that in about six months I will be on my knees begging for this weather. But right now I'll just bond with my air conditioner, thanks very much. As for humanity, the less said the better. No, scratch that; perhaps something is worth saying. About messieurs Rajekar and Bystrov for instance, the brains (if that is the right word) behind Shutdown Day.

Rajekar and Bystrov are IT professionals. Last year they discovered that they were spending too much time on their computers. So they invented a day on which misfits like them could unplug for 24 hours. As if it was not bad enough that Hallmark has given us Mothers' Day, Fathers' Day, 2nd Cousin Twice-Removed Day and Let's All Read The Newspaper With One Eye Shut Day, we now also have Shutdown Day. A day on which geeks will nail themselves to the inside of a padded cell and go cold turkey for 24 hours without a computer, television, digital thermometer or any other electronic gadget.

The whole idea that technology cuts us off from other people is totally wrong-headed. I'm sure anyone who reads this blog needs no convincing that the Internet helps us maintain relationships and sometimes build new ones. No, it's not the pointlessness of Shutdown Day that irritates me, it's the presumption.

It's the idea that if a couple of people use computers as a way to hide themselves from having to communicate with real people then that must be what everyone else does too. It's the thought that the world needs rescuing from some sort of dark, machine-worshipping slavery to the mighty microchip. It's the whole born-again attitude: now that I have been saved, it is my duty and my right to save you too, whether you like it or not.

Well here's some news for you, M/s Rakjekar and Bystrov. It's not your duty. And it certainly is not your right. Why don't you go ahead and pry yourselves away from your keyboards with a crowbar. I'll just keep on chatting with my friend who lives on the other side of the world. And we'll meet again tomorrow, when you are 24 hours older, and the rest of the world is wiser.