The Precariousness of Presence

by Lyka Gonzalez

One could probably liken watching his or her favorite band or artist perform live to the spectacle of arriving in a city one has longed to explore. For one thing, the experience is magical. It’s magic: Intoxicating.

An instantaneous roar fills the arena upon the sound of the band’s opening song. The thundering energy of the crowd races your heart along with the tiny strands of hair in your body. Suddenly, you are in a moment of disbelief. The songs you used to continually listen to from your computer, radio, iPod or record player you are now hearing live. You are caught in this dreamlike state until a 9.5-inch tablet is raised before you virtually blocking your view.

Concert-goers often end up drowning in a sea of smartphones and tablets as other attendees exhaust their efforts in getting a recording of the event for themselves. What are their intentions behind this? Perhaps they intend to have a memento they can look back to from time to time. Perhaps they intend to post it on their Instagram and Facebook account afterwards. Would it not be more satisfying to look back on a lasting memory of the experience rather than trying to “relive” the performance on the screen? Is a digital recording really what you are paying for in that event? Whichever the reason, what is common between the two is how absent they makes us in the present.

Though aimed at improving the quality of life, technology makes its primary goal questionable today. In a society with growing number of social media platforms and constant advancement of technology, we unconsciously allow ourselves to be too forward-looking. We preoccupy ourselves with what we can look back to later on and what we will post afterwards that we fail to just be and experience the now. The digital age tries to connect us more with one another and perhaps with ourselves as well, but it has also enforced us to be overdependent on technology. The mindset we have grown to have and the dependency it has caused make us even more disconnected with each other and with the present. It puts genuine relationships and lasting experiences (pagsasamahan) into uncertainty. Instead of making us more in tune with ourselves and with each other, technology has distracted from lived experiences that make life more meaningful. As with all things, learning to live the experience begins in the littlest of changes. Often, it starts with a self-reminder. By calling your impulses to attention, you make yourself more mindful of your actions and opens your mind to other options. You become aware of yourself and your surroundings. Then, it continues in letting go. Being present and being in the present also start by simply putting that gadget down. Let go of your temporal inhibitions about what to save or “Share” afterwards. Shake those worries off. Listen to the music around you. Watch the lights dance before you. Immerse yourself in the vibrations of the crowd--of the moment.

Sing. Dance. Scream. Jump. Cry.

Just live it.