It beeps when parking, when turning, at the boss in the office - and of course when cycling. Sat navs, cameras, gears: everything suddenly has a voice. Unfortunately, it always sounds the same: annoying!
Life in a continuous beep
Birds used to chirp. Today, the world beeps.
A beep here, a beep there, beeping everywhere - warning, hint, instruction.
You are leaving the route - Beep!
You stay on the route - beep!
The route is ascending - beep!
Your memory is full - beep!
Apparently so is your life.
Modern people are no longer informed.
They are educated acoustically.
Machines talk. People obey.
This beeping is not harmless. It is an instruction.
It says:
Watch out.
Don't do that.
Do this now.
Personal responsibility? Is outsourced.
To devices that believe they know better.
And we?
We listen carefully.
My life becomes a beep. Of course, you can also switch off the beeping. With a lot of beeping, of course. I managed to do that at some point. Others have not. Among them: Friends of mine. Every endeavour with them becomes a test of patience for me.
My friend Andi and the Pieps fiasco
It gets particularly bad when technology meets enthusiasm.
My friend Andi loves his GoPro.
It beeps at everything. Really everything.
Start. Beep.
Stop. Beep.
From video to photo. Beep.
Battery. Beep.
Memory. Beep.
Andi documents his life as an athlete in full.
Skiing, surfing, biking - drops, turns, jumps, breathing - probably soon too.
The idea behind it:
If everything is recorded, you have experienced something. Then life makes sense. Only then was it really good.
The problem:
Above all, it was loud.
Forest is not WLAN
I have learnt that you speak softly in the forest.
My father used to do that when I was a child. If I was too loud, he would put his index finger to his lips and look upwards. Psssssst!
Later, in the Bundeswehr, it was called noise discipline.
I was a sniper in the paratroopers.
We knew: Silent = stay alive.
Noise and sound = the opposite.
Rest is not a lack.
It is a fulfilment.
Today, on the other hand:
Bluetooth speakers in the rucksack.
Conversations in stadium mode.
Gravel groups with an entertainment programme.
As if nature had a clay void that needed to be filled.
Plea for silence
I don't want any beeping.
No music.
No constant commentary from my device.
Only tyres on gravel.
Wind in your ear.
Maybe a bird - if it makes an effort.
The rest are welcome to remain silent.
Dimitri Lehner
Editor
