Not listening

I hear that Amazon is producing a male version of Alexa and calling it Alex.  It is fundamentally the same as Alexa but doesn't listen.

Women are always complaining that men don't listen. It is true, we don't and the reason is simple; we are conditioned not to.

If you work in a noisy environment, you learn very quickly to ignore the noise, filtering it out as it were. Even if the radio is on in the background, unless there is something really gripping, it gets easy to ignore.

Most women love talking. It is fascinating when a bunch of women get together. They talk and when they are not talking they are rehearsing what they are going to say next rather than listening. Gaps in the conversation can be measured in nanoseconds, dead air has to be filled.  They can say the same things over and over again but no-one cares, it is called social intercourse. Phone calls can last hours with neither party getting bored, it is a mystery what they talk about.


Most men talk for a different reason. They talk to convey information, social chit chat may be an expectation but it is not a natural pastime.  Most men are quite happy with silence. Idle chatter tends to distract from thinking, and when that chatter is continuous and repetitive or irrelevant, it becomes a background noise and is filtered out. A phone call often lasts minutes at most, and once the information has been passed on it ends.

Do not expect a man to pick up on instructions or requests if they come bundled in a long diatribe. He won't be listening.

          

Getting old

Getting old is probably better than the alternative but it certainly is no laughing matter. I used to smile at our next door neighbour who would regularly tell me that old age does not come by itself, and now I know what he meant.

He and his wife were a dear couple, who, by their own admission had lived  their lives in better times. The modern world was not for them and I felt that they were both ready to leave it when their time came.  Maybe it is the same for all of us,  there comes a time when things start to get away from us. Technology is moving at such a pace that it is hard to keep up with it.  I watch my nine year old grandson using computers and his games, and he leaves me standing. I have a Playstation and already he knows more about it than I do.

We have a smart TV just like most people, and I know that it is remarkable and capable of so much more than the demands I make on it. It's the same with my phone. I carry it around most of the time and pick up the odd message, but actually making calls is not something that I have had much practice at.  Our home is awash with wifi and bluetooth and we have Amazon dots in most rooms. Even the guest room has one so that guests can listen to music or interrogate Alexa should they wish to do so.  We are told that these things are not listening to us and that they only respond to the wake up word, but if they are not listening, how do they know when a wake up word has been spoken? We are all under scrutiny all of the time. I don't care because I have nothing to hide and my life on the whole is pretty dull but there is a principle at stake here.

We are living in a world where elections can now be manipulated using data that is collected from social media and goodness knows where else.  The rise of demons like Trump and other potential dictators has all been assisted by the manipulation of peoples minds; democracy is in its death throes.

I maintain that I was born at the right time. Things were hard when we were kids but they were getting better. We had healthy food, clean air, real freedom and great music. The kids today have none of those things and that is so sad.

I am lucky to be alive I guess, kept that way by a bloody good health service that neither bankrupted my parents or myself with the cost of years in hospital and replacement body parts. So I live with the aches and pains and the narrowing horizons and take each day as it comes with a degree of gratitude.