Is this where we're headed?

[seabird78]

No 2007 recap tonight as I initially planned. Why? I've got something that feels much more pressing. Something I really need to get off my chest.

Some context...

In the last few days I've caught snippets of TV commercials for a new mobile internet service that is now available in Chicago. It's called Clear and since it's newly available it's being crammed down our throats pretty aggressively. Today on the way home I noticed that they've even gone so far as to do a series of ads inside the train cars. So many that in some instances you look up and they're taking up all of the overhead ad space. Smart campaign tactic, I'll admit. Cause I know from my own brief stint in marketing that the biggest battle is getting your target audience's attention. What better way to do that than to bombard them with messages when they're commuting captives, right?

Of course, there's a drawback to this. That being there's a chance people like me will read the messages, read between the lines, and conclude that the product is not so appealing after all.

Granted, I'm not the ideal target for the latest trend in internet service anyway. For me, just give me something that allows me to check my email and blog every so often and I'm golden. But I have to hope that other people, people who care about being on the cutting edge of this stuff, would find Clear's messaging just as troubling as I did.

What was so troubling, you ask?

The examples that were cited in the ads. The whole purpose of the campaign was to show Clear's wide-ranging access. To do this, they listed ways you might use their service. I wrote down a few so I could quote them accurately.

And they are:

Stream movies at a hockey rink.

Video chat from a museum.

Upload videos at the playground.

Watch TV on your commute.


Okay, so I can kinda sorta maybe see the appeal of the very last one, though why TV-watching is necessary when it's just as easy to read or listen to music (and probably less intrusive to possible seat neighbors) is still beyond me.

But the rest? The rest leave me completely flabbergasted and pretty appalled.

I mean seriously! They're suggesting that you disrupt activities, activities that generally call for you to be fully present, activities that in the case of hockey or a museum that you've paid admission to participate in, to surf the FUCKING INTERNET? And don't even get me started on the playground bit. I can just see some mom saying, "Sorry junior, can't push you on the swings right now because I'm updating facebook!"

And yeah you can say well maybe they're just talking about their phone service but no, that's not the case because in one of the TV commercials they had scenes where people had laptops with them at poolside, laptops on their cab rides, laptops laptops laptops because they are just SO IMPORTANT and we simply must forgo this thing called living lest we miss something in the virtual world!!!!

It's ridiculous I tells ya! It's disturbing!!! It's WALL-E on it's way to becoming a reality!

Anyone else with me on this? Please tell me I'm not overreacting. And please tell me this is not a path we should be expected to follow.

Cause honestly? If this is the way society and culture is headed, I've half a mind to rip out my umbillical cord and unplug from The Matrix. I can admit and accept that I, just like everyone else, have developed an unhealthy interweb dependency. But even I have my limits. This Clear stuff pushes them beyond their max.

Comments

[malkovich03.livejournal.com]

it's a bit much. i say this as i sit on my couch, on the internet with my laptop, watching tv, and texting with my friend. i'm pretty attached to technology, but i definitely don't need it around me 100% of the time. and i would be annoyed if i paid good money to see an exhibit at an art museum or a game or show and the person next to me was busy taking videos and uploading them to a big laptop next to me.

[crazymule.livejournal.com]

I like the internet as well as the next college kid. But I need my away from the computer time. I refuse to get a phone with internet. I barely text. I barely use facebook. I have been known to go off the internet for weeks at a time. When I do I feel so much freer. I dont care what they say about the internet connecting us, I feel like it pulls us apart.

That internet service sounds horrible.

[fuzzilla.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I think it sounds kinda cool, and it's the first time I've heard of a service that lets you get on the internet while you're on a train or whatever, not needing to be near a WiFi. As far as bringing it to real live events, the TV ad framed it as "you can take better videos than a cell phone could of Joey's play or Jennifer splashing in the pool" or whatever, which made sense to me. I'm sorta tempted to get the service for my laptop, although I'm online way too much and keeping the laptop pure and internet-free sounds smart if I actually wanna get any writing done on it.

[mdatl.livejournal.com]

Well said! It's telling that the name of this service is also the nickname for one of the illegal steroids Barry Bonds supposedly took--anything to gain an advantage and be a leg up.

Down here I saw a Clear store the other day, an actual physical location for it. And it's been marketed like hell here too.