Speech Sounds: A Small Excerpt

   I’m woken up by my alarm on my phone and texts from my mom telling me that breakfast is on the table and she will be home late tonight. “Thanks for saying goodbye,” I thought. I drive myself to school, or in reality, my car drives me to school. With just a start of the engine and inputting my destination into the navigation monitor, the car is on its way in no time, needing no direction from me. I scan my ID card at the opening gate, allowing me to enter onto campus. What is known as a high school looks like a gigantic cyber study space: everyone is attached to their cell phones, laptops, tablets, most likely texting the person right across from them. The only sounds made are a few distant conversations and the mass amount of clicking from everyone’s keyboard. Where is this world going?

   I walk into my first class and see people already starting the notes. Dead silence. Everyone’s headphones are on, typing notes from the lecture our teacher posted online. The last time I heard my “teacher” speak to the class was last week; however, it was short-lived for two minutes, letting us know where to locate the PDF file of our textbook online. In case you’re curious, an actual paper textbook hasn’t been seen on campus, or any campus in California, for the past two years. Libraries have been shut down, as well as the act of reading itself. Welcome to the world of audio text and videos extravaganza. Human interaction, the act of handwriting, and physical labor were practically exterminated ever since 2050 when a new wave of technology advances swept the world quicker than the Black Plague in the 1300’s- and yes, I did read about that on a PDF file online.

  As I walk into the lunchroom, I glance at today’s lunch menu posted on one of the many digital screens plastered on the glass walls. Cheeseburger and fries, as always, I go to the lunch monitor, type in my order, and before I have time to get my water out of my bag, my lunch is warmed and ready to take out of the vending machine. I sit down to each my lunch, meanwhile watching the news from the mini T.V. embedded into the glass lunch table. Ironically, today’s documentary describes the evolution of technology throughout the century, and how the production of robots will be globally released beginning next month. I think about what it would be like to live in a world where people would read books, where teachers would give lessons and help their students, and where everyone would talk to each other in person- not transfixed to a screen. You look around the community and you don’t see basketball hoops or bicycles laying out, or any children playing with their friends; instead, their inside playing video games and doing their daily video lessons on how to use a computer. Where is this world going?
   Nowhere good… That I know.