Today was her sister's first day home from vacation.
It was also the most enthusiastic day my mom treated me.
After all, now young people go home for the New Year, basically have one more task -
It's not about doing housework, giving out red envelopes, going on blind dates...
Instead, tune the phones of the elders.
Teach them to add friends, change notes, help them get off the software, clear the memory.
It seems like a small thing, but it also reflects the embarrassment of the Internet age:
The elderly can no longer keep up with the rhythm of society.
Electronic products are updated and iterated much faster than they learn and faster than the pace at which they age.
So, they can only be 0.5 times, 0.3 times, 0.1 times... Living at a slower and slower pace.
In contrast, young people are more at ease in the Internet age.
All kinds of newly listed electronic products, they can always learn from each other.
Riding on the Tech Express, they started with 1.2x, 1.5x, 2x... Speed of life.
In the same era, with different frequencies, technology pushes people into cars.
Some were confused, some were quick to take their seats.
But in the midst of the noise, we seem to have forgotten to ask one of the most fundamental questions —
Under the wave of change, has our lives really become better?
Following the feeling of returning home for the New Year, her sister wanted to talk.
If you throw this question to the elderly, the answer may be no.
At the moment, the elderly seem to be gradually being abandoned by society.
This kind of abandonment, without prior notice and rehearsal, often makes it difficult for them to be overwhelmed.
Aunt Li, who lives in Beijing, wants to take a taxi to the hospital to see a doctor and get medicine.
But standing on the side of the road, stretching out your hands, waiting, waiting, waiting for more than half an hour still did not get a taxi.
Aunt Li sighed: What's going on, all empty cars.
She couldn't use her phone to get a taxi, and she had trouble even going out.
When I got to the hospital, I had to show my health code.
Aunt Li thought about this problem I will ah, at home I learned.
However, it is still not possible to tinker for half a day, because the mobile phone does not open the traffic, and there is no network as soon as you go out of the house.
The problem that can be solved in a second after someone else scans the code, she has to register at the door for half a day.
I can't scan the code with my mobile phone, and it is difficult to enter even the gate of the hospital.
And that's not all.
It was hard to enter the registration hall, but Aunt Li could not find the registration window.
After half a day of looking for someone to ask, I learned that the hospital has long since stopped accepting on-site registration.
If you want to see a doctor, you can only register online in advance.
Aunt Li sighed: Isn't this difficult for us?
Do not use the mobile phone registration, medical treatment has become a problem.
Aunt Li couldn't figure it out, but it was just a medical treatment, why did she have to pass so many passes?
But in the Internet age, is it just difficult for the elderly to see a doctor?
At present, the plight of the elderly has penetrated into all aspects of life.
Not long ago, a hot search made her sister see a pang of sadness:
#近五成老人找不到想看的电视节目 #
Now smart TVs are too feature-rich.
Can access the APP, mobile phone screen projection, and even play games, make calls...
However, there is no way to turn on the TV to see the program.
Source: 2022 China Ageing TV Research Report
If the elderly want to watch a show, they have to carry out a series of complicated operations.
Whether it is switching set-top boxes or jumping to the channels you want to watch, the elderly are often confused in the face of dazzling screens.
And many of them, either no one asked for help, or did not want to disturb their children, and simply gave up watching TV.
How sad.
Elderly people are clearly the largest audience for TV programs, but it is difficult to enjoy the care of this industry.
Online payment, which young people have long been accustomed to, has also become a major "obstacle" to the lives of the elderly.
First it won't work.
The binding procedures for online payment are cumbersome, and you need to enter various information, ID cards, bank cards, verification codes...
Older people's eyes, memories, and even understanding are not as good as ever, and it is difficult to perform these steps independently.
I don't dare to use it again.
The elderly who have spent a lifetime of paper money are always "uneasy" about this invisible and untouchable form of payment, and "don't know where this money goes."
It stands to reason that it doesn't hurt to refuse online payments, just reserve a channel for them to pay in cash.
Unfortunately, more and more occasions have begun to force the elderly:
Either learn to use a smartphone, or you will have to bear the "price" of backwardness .
Sometimes, they pay more money.
You must remember a recent hot post.
The landlord's grandfather helped her buy a box of KFC egg tarts, which were promoted on the same day, and 8 egg tarts were 29.9 yuan.
But when Grandpa arrived at the store, he didn't see the sign of the event, the clerk didn't remind him of the promotion, and he didn't use his smartphone very well.
But in order to let his granddaughter eat egg tarts, Grandpa still bought 4 egg tarts at the original price and went home.
Sometimes, they spend more time.
A while ago, there was such a news in Shanghai -
Large-scale cancellation of hydropower and coal line payment points。
In the past, the elderly wanted to pay for water, electricity and coal, and they could go out of the house.
But now convenience stores no longer provide collection services, and the post office gradually withdraws the collection business.
Many elderly people who do not use smartphones have to take a car or walk a kilometer or two to find a point where they can pay.
In today's society, all processes can be online:
Go out to bring a health code, you can scan the code to order food, see a doctor to go to the hospital public number to make an appointment, train tickets on the APP on time to grab...
Society is increasingly acquiescing, and embracing technology and the Internet is the awareness and essential skills that everyone should have.
But it ignores that there are still some people who cannot catch up with the pace of this technology.
The elderly, who are far behind by the times, consume too much unnecessary energy in the endless little things in daily life.
They don't understand: Why are the days getting more and more troublesome?
Smart, smart.
In the end, it is the elderly who are cured.
Old age, old age.
The older a person gets, the less dignified he becomes.
Will the question be thrown to the younger generation and will get a very different answer?
On the surface, this seems to be the case.
In the Internet era, the lives of the younger generation have become more convenient than ever.
Hungry, order takeaway, massive meals to choose at will.
Tired, call a ride online, and the driver will send it home directly.
If you want to travel, first go to a small book to copy the strategy.
You don't have to bring a wallet with you when you go out, your phone is enough to make all your payments.
Daily boredom, late night emo, just visit Weibo, games, forums, short videos...
There is always a place to pass the time, and there is always a way to divert attention.
Lonely people gather together to enjoy the carnival of beards.
Compared with the elderly, young people seem to be accelerating their lives at a pace of 2 times the speed, following the pulse of society.
But when you look around, you find that—
While life is becoming more and more convenient, there are more and more problems.
At the same time as the good life brought by science and technology, it is also demanding a price from us -
Everyone has boarded the train of modern society, crowded the carriages, and are afraid of falling behind.
On the way, there is no time to breathe and stop to watch.
Even forced to sacrifice their freedom, dreams, time, desires to raise this high-speed machine.
Everyone knows the harm, and everyone knows that staying up late hurts the body, depression hurts the liver.
But most of us cannot afford to press the "pause" without permission.
As a result, inward curls became the norm, and anxiety lingered all day long.
As a result, "efficiency" has become a high-frequency word on the lips of young people.
When everything is focused on efficiency, everything seems to be pulled and deformed.
Even moments that should be comfortable and relaxed are beginning to be included in the input-output measurement.
For example, the matter of reading.
We have no patience to read.
After all, this is an era when someone can purify the "essence version" for you.
Spending a few minutes getting as much information as spending a dozen hours looks like a bargain.
However, as much "information" as there is, it does not mean that there is as much "feeling".
When reading verbatim, the spiritual dialogue with the author, the sudden enlightenment in the heart, the quiet moment of solitude, will not be experienced.
But her sister had no intention of harshly criticizing this utilitarian reading.
Because this is the helplessness that many young people face .
On the one hand, we must force ourselves to maintain a state of absorption, otherwise we will be ruthlessly eliminated by society.
But on the other hand, suffering from not having time, or afraid to spend time fully engaged in reading, can only choose this way to quickly replenish.
The brain is speeding up, and life is speeding forward.
But at the end of the day, a lot of us seem to forget —
Reading should not be completely utilitarian, nor should we deprive ourselves of the right to finish a book without distraction.
And such a result is not difficult to guess.
Accustomed to fast food for all the resources, we will only become more and more addicted to nipple music.
With this, what Liu Qing called "childishness"——
We are not very able to delay gratification.
Everything should be short, flat, fast, exciting...
Watch the drama to watch 2 times the speed, listen to the song only listen to the 30 seconds of the most explosive climax, brush short videos to the whole process of high energy sprinkled with dog blood...
As a result, our already small disposable time is further occupied by these nutrient-poor but nerve-stimulating products.
In such a process, we have gradually changed from passive application to active choice, and even have a word:
Tired enough from work, I just want to relax when I get home from work.
Last year's annual report on short videos told users this:
This year, you watched ** video, equivalent to learning ** hours of knowledge.
But are the two really the same thing?
At the end of the day, it's another hat of self-deception.
The life of the younger generation is so magical.
They enjoy the dividends of the times, but they sacrifice their freedom to keep others from enjoying them.
They hate that their freedom is restricted, but they take the initiative to attrition and silently join the ranks of self-oppression and exploitation.
And when we come back to God, we find out—"
After the wheels of the original era were crushed, no one retreated.
In the age of the Internet of Everything, it seems that everyone is in deep trouble.
Both the elderly and the young.
What should have been a "live" day turned out to be "chasing".
People who can't catch up, sad.
I was so worried that I had to pay more time and energy.
Aunt Li mentioned above, after experiencing the difficulty of not being able to register in the hospital, began to learn to make appointments online with her mobile phone.
She wrote down the process in a notebook and compared the operation step by step.
Because I only go to the hospital once a month, in order not to forget it, I have to review it from time to time.
But Aunt Li is still a high-ranking intellectual who enjoys state council subsidies.
An old man like her is still so hard to learn, so what about an old man who does not have such a level?
Catch up with the people, tired.
Tired enough to live a life, just rolling forward with the wheel of time.
Woolf said: If you are losing your leisure time, be careful! Maybe you're losing your soul.
When her sister came home this time, she had a very obvious feeling:
As the cost of communication and transportation becomes lower and lower, missing and reuniting begins to lose its original weight.
We no longer have the eagerness to go home, nor are we ready to solemnly do anything on the eve of the meeting.
As it was easy to get home, it was possible to save until the next time.
Because the connection is simple, why rush this time.
Those missed moments are gaps that technology can never close.
The rhythm of alienation also brings about a life that is destined to be alienated.
Science and technology and the Internet are obviously the products of the progress of the times. Why did it end up being a big net that trapped everyone?
Her sister thought about it and thought it might be because—
It has only institutions, but no temperature.
Technology that lacks temperature is no different from violence.
It easily squeezes and deforms our life time and requires us to do everything in its service.
However, people should not be tools.
Man is the end itself.
What people need is "life", and now even "living" is almost a problem, which is already sending us a signal.
Everything is not insoluble.
Sociologist Rosa has suggested that the way to solve alienation is to pursue social relations that are full of resonance.
The subject and the world echo each other in their own ways, and in the process of echoing, the two always maintain their own voices, not occupied and dominated by each other.
In layman's terms, it's --
Society must fully respect, not forcibly interfere, and everyone chooses the way of life.
For the elderly.
Specific to life, that is to understand their inconvenience.
When online life is fully rolled out, there is still a small window offline for them.
For example, if the elderly go to a fast food restaurant, can they provide manual ordering services? Can I verbally inform you of the promotion of the day? Can I accept cash payments?
When they try to catch up with the times, can they be more patient and less disgusted?
They have worked hard all their lives to have today's society, and our lives today, and they should not be snubbed in their twilight years.
And we will eventually grow old.
For young people.
Can you not be solipsistic and create anxiety? Can you not force 24-hour standby, weekend size week? Can they enjoy the dignity of life while surviving?
Perhaps many people seem to me to be whimsical.
This is against the laws of the times, twisting its ankles, demanding that it give everyone enough breathing space.
However, our space may not be large, but it is not nothing.
We may not have many options, but we are not absent.
In some places, there have been warm moves -
Provide paper certificates for the elderly who do not have a health code to help them seek medical treatment and ride normally.
Launch a public welfare project to help the elderly learn to use smart phones.
Legally protect the rights and interests of workers, so that more and more companies, cancel the 996 system.
Change is already happening little by little, and although society is speeding up, we do not have to become deserters of science and technology and prisoners of the system.
It's just that it's not enough, more people need to join.
Teacher Dai Jinhua once said when discussing realist literature-
Today we often feel that we have no choice because in the absence of knowledge of the vastness and richness of the world, there is no different understanding, no different cognition.
There is no space of culture, of psychology, of literature, of imagining and choosing from the lives of our others, or of the structures given by others.
Perhaps, it's not that we don't have a choice, but a lot of times we're limiting ourselves.
Because he had never reached a distant place, he thought that the world in front of him was right.
Because I have never touched the sky, I feel that the cage is a beautiful habitat.
But since you found the cage lock, why not try to pry it once?
After all, we have not failed to achieve the "resonance" of the individual with the world .
Back when I was young, my parents worked regularly and lived a simple life.
I went to work at 8 a.m. and dropped off to drop off my children to school. After work at 5 p.m., I bought bundles of vegetables, bottles of wine, and cut some meat at the market.
At dusk, the kitchen is lit up, and the aroma of rice wafts out of the window, steaming hot and overflowing.
In the evening, watching the news, walking the corners, tutoring children with homework, playing cards and chess with neighbors, good life and happiness.
The economy is not rich, but the days are always full of rushes.
Because they believe so firmly —
The world can change, and it will get better. She published