On the Run from the Digital Messiah

Hmmm, is it my fate in life to be caught between two worlds?

I read today that the Saint Catherine Street West Chapters location in Montreal is closing. For my readers south of the border, Chapters is Canada’s signature big box bookstore.

Three large Chapters locations in Toronto have also recently closed. The 35,000 square foot space, which the Montreal Chapters occupied, will now be the world’s second largest Victoria’s Secret store. The moral of this story: Books come and go. Lingerie is forever.

All joking aside, the demise of Chapters is a clear sign of the times. The printed book is a mature product on the downside of its life cycle. Those of us who do still buy hard copy books increasingly make our purchases online rather than at bricks and mortar stores.

The plain truth is that we are living in the digital era. A quick Google search reveals that Americans now own four digital devices on average and spend 60 hours a week consuming content across devices. College students are partially responsible for pulling up the average. The average college student owns seven digital devices.

Digital immigrants, of which I am one, have little influence on this reality. The relatively small amount we spend on printed products cannot measure up to the serious bucks that are laid down for digital devices.

The digital device business model is all about psychology. New versions are churned out on a regular cycle with the latest and greatest features. It is no longer about need. It is about created demand. Self-worth is now tied to having the most recent version of your device of choice.

I recently bowed to the pressure and purchased a smart phone. I am trying to condition myself to use at least some of its functions to justify the monthly cost. But quite frankly, I still have not mastered the simple act of turning it on.

I put all things electronic behind me as often as I am able in favour of roaming through meadows and marshlands. Increasingly, I feel caught between two worlds – the natural world of tangible and immutable things and the ever changing digital world of virtual things. My heart is in the latter world while my brain is occupied with trying to keep pace in the digital realm.

I feel at times like a fugitive. I’m trying to stay one step ahead of the digital messiah who wants convert me to the new digital religion. My faith and my loyalties still lie with the natural world which has no need of such things.

My most heart-felt desire is to remain free and unencumbered. Butterflies flying free will always be my metaphor of choice. I have to run the never ending race in the wired world. But my heart will always be elsewhere.

~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog .

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