One of my favorite all-time songs is Todd Rundgren’s “Want of a Nail,” because its lyrics tell the story of how the devil’s in the details. If you don’t focus, then everything, just everything, can fall apart. This is also a theme of one of my favorite Larry McMurtry novels, Lonesome Dove, and of course, countless other songs, stories and novels.
It’s awfully difficult these days to keep track of details, and they are extra-important in our business. It’s becoming harder for everyone to make sure every detail is examined because we’re all bombarded with so much information that distraction is part of our daily lives.
I heard on a news report that the average office worker is interrupted every three minutes (e-mail, phone call, Facebook, Twitter, etc.), and it takes roughly 23 minutes to get back on track. So where does that leave anyone’s concentration on finishing an important—or even an relatively easy—task?
It frightens me to know that technology has rewired our brains so drastically that we all have issues focusing and concentrating on and finishing what we have to do. Yeah, I know: technology has done so much to make our lives easier. But frankly, I kind of miss not being connected to everyone in creation every minute of the day. There are now generations of people who have no idea what it feels like to be totally alone, to have to amuse yourself or to do work without benefit of a smart phone or a computer. Or to read a newspaper or even watch TV for breaking news.
Tell you what: put 50 twenty-somethings in a room without smart phones and see what happens. OMG. What will they do? Will they have to actually talk to one another face-to-face? Will they have to wait until they get home to see if they can meet up with a friend tomorrow so they can check their schedules? Will they actually have to write down a friend’s (or their own) phone number? Learn how to focus enough to read a book all the way through? No way to check or send texts or check Facebook or Twitter? Or upload a Snapchat or Instagram photo? OMG! OMG!!
Lest you think I am an old fart technophobe, I am nothing of the sort. I’m actually sort of an “early adapter” and I love learning to use the stuff. I use my iPhone, iPad, computers, Facebook, Twitter, even Instagram and more every single day. But the difference is, while I find them useful, I look at these machines as tools, not something that I depend on for my life or connections to other people. If I don’t have my iPhone, I’m really happy (unless my calendar isn’t with me…but then I have years’ worth of Filofax-type calendars, and I could learn to use one again if I had to).
What I do find is that having these machines in face constantly is distracting to the point of madness. Multi-tasking is certainly needed, but there’s going to be a tipping point where your brain just can’t handle any more information without losing something else. It’s happening already. The human brain is being rewired—especially in the younger generation—to only respond to instant gratification, instant messaging. Instant everything. It’s obvious when you look at the job market. There’s something to be said for working at a job, learning it thoroughly (which takes time because learning isn’t necessarily quick; there are nuances that can’t be learned so quickly). If you’re under 35 and you’ve had only two or three jobs these days, there’s something a little…off. It’s easier to job-hop, learn a little, job-hop. But you never really learn anything in depth. It’s all surface knowledge. Just like it many ways, our social lives have become infinitely more superficial and less truly engaged.
What does this mean for music? Well, obviously this mentality has had an industry-changing effect on just about everything to do with music. Purchasing CDs is becoming an obsolete pastime (although it’s somewhat encouraging to see a resurge in the interest in vinyl. Wonder how long that will last). Music services like iTunes may now also be on the chopping block, if streaming music services take over. Remember, it’s “I want. I want it now. I want it quick. And I won’t wait—even for a download.”
What these changes also mean is that a lot of “music businesses” are now struggling, or unless they find a way to diversify their business model, they’ll soon be gone. Musicians also aren’t being paid what they used to make for their songs because of deals with download and streaming services (Taylor Swift is attuned to this little fact).
I’m bemoaning the way it used to be, but the technological advances we’ve made are not necessarily the best thing for musicians, the music industry, or for that matter, humanity.
Just wait ‘til someone hacks that electrical grid.
Then you’re all gonna have to deal with land-lines, typewriters, letter-writing, CDs(!) and records, and reading a good book for entertainment. Oh yes…and speaking to another person face-to-face and waiting a little while to get what you want. What a concept.
