CULTURE CLASH: When Earth Hour/Day comes, will you power down?

March 25, Norwich Bulletin

Meo: Hey Perkins, the hippies have won. Twice. Earth Hour is Saturday. Between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., we’re supposed to power down our gadgets. April 22 is Earth Day. Same deal, for a WHOLE DAY! I’ll pass on both, thanks.

Perkins: I’m kind of crunchy. I’ll power down. Earth Hour is a good idea. It should take place periodically. Is it that hard to step away from electricity for an hour? Turn off the TV. You can still watch Saturday Night Live. Read a book, play a board game, talk face to face with a real person. It’s not the “hippies’” fault. Blame the technologically addicted, Web-surfing, flat-screen watching, SUV-driving materialists.

Meo: I spent too much money on my gadgets to turn any of the them off. One reason my TV is so big is so I can have multiple forms of entertainment going simultaneously. Alone, none is fully capable of pleasing me. Sure, I may be reading a book, but maybe I want to unpause the PC game I’m playing or check the news or post a picture to Facebook of me unpausing that game while checking the news. Maybe, in the secondary screen, I want to hop into a GoW2 match or watch an “NCIS” rerun. Possibly while I’m on the phone and/or texting and/or VoIPing. Yeah, I VoIP. At least, I think I do.

Perkins: Wow, you are wired. I’m sure there is a 12-step program for that. My tolerance for technology is growing weary so I’m happy to forgo status updates, tweets, my DVR surplus and ringing phones for an hour. We only have one Earth. But I guess greedy techie mongers cancel out my generosity. What’s the harm in taking a break?

Meo: The harm? Well, I may miss something. The beauty of being as wired a (Trekkie alert!!) Borg drone is I exist in a vacuum. Whatever happens outside my little electronic bubble is inconsequential. The noise of the TV, the hum of the Xbox 360 and the DVR and the computer ... those are the birds chirping and the crickets ... er, cricketing, although, I hate crickets. I find that noise relaxing, even if I’m not in the room. So, a few extra years of Earth for future generations, or a few more minutes of soothing, pointless blather for me. Hmmm ... Tough call. I pick me.

Perkins: Crickets are part of the circle of life. Perhaps we can compromise phone privileges in case of emergency. People lived for years without multifunctional entertainment doodads. An hour without them won’t kill anyone. Earth-shattering news will deliver itself in the form of a giant fire ball, Biblical flood or maybe a global blackout. If not for the Earth take an hour out for yourself. Rest your eye balls, your brain and your fingers.

Emily Perkins is the editorial assistant at the Norwich Bulletin. She likes to stop and smell the roses. John Meo is design editor at the Norwich Bulletin. He thinks roses are just fine, as long as they come in the form of Xbox Live downloadable content.