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Have
you ever
used your iPod, Blackberry or another device to give yourself privacy
in a public place? You know, to avoid that annoying or intrusive
seatmate on the plane, train, or subway?
Before Tivo,
did you arrange your life around a favorite television
show?
Have you
shut out close-by customers in a coffee shop and immersed
yourself in your laptop?
If so, do
you occasionally feel guilty about "disconnecting yourself
from society?"
Join the
club.
We've all
heard that as a result of consumer electronics, our society
is becoming isolated, people are becoming more and more disconnected
and our children's brains are turning to mush. Our desires to
listen to our iPods, play portable video games or watch DVDs on our
laptops are derisively dismissed as "mere escapism."
But the
critics fail to recognize one important fact: when we
seek to escape one thing, we choose to engage in something else.
We aren't escaping, we're engaging. And in our modern society,
consumer electronics are the number one tool used to achieve escapist
experiences.
Contrary to
popular belief, people don't use iPods, video games
and DVDs to foster isolation and disconnection. In fact,
rather than escaping, we're making a conscious decision to
"e-scape" by using our gadgets to focus our time and attention on
what matters most to us.
About
the E-scapism Guru
Stephanie grew up in Silicon
Valley, CA, the daughter of one of the early scientists at Xerox's
famed Palo Alto Research Center, where the personal computer was first
invented. From a young age she was surrounded by the earliest
versions of the devices that capture our attention today - from video
games to VCRs to MP3 players. Her interest in technology led her
to Washington, DC where she handled technology policy for three
different members of Congress and served as a lobbyist for National
Public Radio. Currently, as a founding partner of Advocacy
Associates, LLC, she works as a speaker, trainer and consultant on
effective advocacy techniques, including the best means of using the
Internet to communicate with elected officials.
Stephanie holds two Masters degrees, one from Georgetown University and
one from George Washington University. Her thesis "Escapism in
the Digital Age: A Nietzschean Evaluation on the iPod", served as
the impetus for her work in describing the shift toward a more
"engagist" culture. Her term-of-art, Engagism, describes a
monumental shift in how people choose to focus their time and
attention. It explains much of what is behind the rise of certain
types of consumer electronics and describes why and how people interact
with technology to create new and often mobile personal
experiences. It offers lessons for business leaders, marketers,
employers and others seeking to make an impact on today's, often
restless, but tech-savvy consumers.
Stephanie lives in
Washington, DC with her husband
Tim Silva. While she enjoys many of the usual pastimes (reading,
writing and taking in DC's many cultural activities), she still feels
most comfortable when she is fully "engaged."
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