Wayne Miller shares about finding a time capsule with an iPod inside.
While cleaning house recently we found a time capsule; a well-worn iPod that someone had left behind as a memento for the future. On the back was the inscription ‘For my girl with ALL my love.’
This mystery needed investigation, and I bent to the task. I found the right cable and was relieved to soon see the familiar blue apple glowing on screen. Like an archaeologist unrolling an ancient scroll I began searching the device for its secrets. What you would expect to find on an iPod are music files; I found 885 songs, three games and a girl’s first name.
What fully caught my attention was the date. This tiny device believed that today was July 13th, 2013, 13 years in the past. I wondered to myself why that date discrepancy surprised me so, and realized it was because this recent artifact of history was already of a bygone era, before everything was connected anywhere all the time. It would only know when it was if tethered to another device to tell it so.
Without that update it would exist forever in its own microcosm, content to play 885 songs and three games forever. There is a kind of peace in that. Today, our phones, cars and watches know where and when we are, how many steps we took that day, how well we slept and when our next appointment is.
Certainly, that information stream is useful but also oppressive in its ubiquity. There is peace in turning it off and taking a breath in isolation. Our great poet laureate Billy Collins often uses observational humor to open the reader to bittersweet truths. His poem ‘Nostalgia’ includes the line ‘Even this morning would be an improvement over the present.’ That captures my mind as well, as we live in the now but always look back to simpler times.
With a Perspective, I’m Wayne Miller.
Wayne Miller is a father, husband and engineer living in the Tri Valley region. He and his wife enjoy the precious time they have with their adult children and spend their free time with friends from around the world, travel and the arts.