Is your fiction technophobic?
If you write science fiction, then you can ignore this post (although you can still read it, I don’t mind). But not too long ago, I saw something that got me thinking about something my own fiction really lacks: Technology. My characters don’t seem to make heavy use of the internet, cell phones or any other cool gadget that one can think of.
Are my characters technophobic? I honestly don’t know. If they are technophobic, they certainly don’t get it from me. I’m a proud iPhone user and recently purchased a GPS device for my car so I can drive to work each day knowing which street is coming up (and maybe get occasional directions). I also own a Sony Reader which is filled with ebooks I haven’t had time to read yet.
My characters, however, don’t use any of this wonderful technology. Maybe they don’t need a GPS device or a fancy cell phone/mp3 player/organizer/internet device. If I really think hard, I can probably recall a few short stories where a character brought out a cell phone. But it certainly didn’t stand out in the story.
One theory I have about this strange phenomenon is that old saying "Less is more." By keeping various props out of my fiction, the characters and their traits, flaws, personalities stand out more because they are forced to interact with the world in a more "real" way.
What the heck am I talking about, you ask? Let’s face it, nothing can really be a good substitute for one-on-one interaction with another person. When you are facing someone, you are not only talking to them but you also notice their body language, facial expressions and other small signals that simply cannot be captured over a phone call, much less an email or text message. Technology is only making communication more convenient, not drawing us any closer together.
Don’t get me wrong, however, I’m not saying that fiction must avoid all technology to be considered genuine. No! In fact, I’ve read many great works of fiction that incorporate a lot of technology directly into the plot, and the result is some very profound philosophical questions about mortality, morality, ethics and a host of other issues. It’s usually called science fiction, but technology can be incorporated well into even literary fiction (although I hate using such labels, they serve to simplify my point).
So what about you? Do you incorporate technology into your fiction? Don’t be shy! Leave a comment and let us know if and how technology makes its way into your writing.
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