Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2014 | Page 104
ANDREW TURNER MP
coffee
break
reading...
Andrew Turner MP
The Riverside Centre, The Town Quay, Newport, IW - Tel: 01983 530808
[email protected] www.islandmp.org
Andrew Turner MP
Running fast but where are we going?
W
ith the pace of
life today it is
often hard to
find space just
to think about things. Those
of us of ‘a certain age’ may
remember the arrival of the
first television in our parents’
homes, but can find it difficult
to actually remember what
life was like before the ‘box’
in the corner came to such
prominence.
Similarly, young people
today can hardly imagine
life without computers, the
internet and mobile phones.
The idea of looking things up
in books instead of ‘Googling’
seems antiquated to them, and
as one youngster put to me
recently ‘how did you know
what you were reading wasn’t
out of date?’. The answer, of
course, is that it sometimes
was – but that it usually didn’t
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matter very much.
Text messages have replaced
love letters; we are constantly
bombarded with advertising
messages and our inboxes
are always crammed full of
e-mails. I’m sure we must all
yearn for the time when Spam
was the brand name of a
tinned meat!
The 21st Century is certainly
lived at a breakneck pace. But
where are we going to that
we have to run so fast? The
measurement of time itself
hasn’t changed – there are
still 60 minutes in every hour
and 24 hours in a day. But
what is different is that we can
interact with so many people
each day, via e-mail and other
technology, in numbers that
would have been unbelievable
just a generation ago.
We all jump faster and faster
from one conversation to
another. I have just recently
joined Twitter (you can follow
me on @TheIslandsMP),
and although I find it an
interesting way to connect
with people, I only go onto
it for a short while most
mornings – which is clearly
frustrating for those people
who want instant answers.
W H Davies’ most famous
poem, Leisure, which starts
with the lines ‘What is this
life, if full of care, we have
no time to stand and stare’,
was published in 1911. He
was warning even then that
the hectic pace of life can
dishearten the human spirit
and drew attention to how
little of the world around
us we notice. This feeling
of things moving too fast is
clearly not new!
Sometimes we all need to
take a breath and take a short
break from the helter-skelter
that is modern life. For me,
when I am at home it is
walking our little dog, Pickle,
in the mornings, and when in
London I always try to walk
to and from work. It gives me
a little space to think - away
from the tyrannies of the
phone, email and the other
constant demands of people
and technology.
We all have to make
important decisions, and
my job involves me voting
on things that may seem
irrelevant, but in fact
can affect people’s lives
profoundly. If none of us have
enough time to think through
the issues how can we expect
to have sound judgement? Am
I the only one who sometimes
longs for a more thoughtful
world?