The sensual in the digital age

I like computers. I use them everyday. I use them more than I ought to.

I like movies, and sometimes television. I watch them more than I ought to as well.

But I’m worried. I’m worried about the ubiquitous influx of electronic media in the home over the last few decades. I’m worried that because of it (among other things) we are losing our sense of the sensual.

Now don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not talking about some of the more common and “explicit” definitions of the word. I’m using definition number five from the Random House unabridged version on Dictionary.com:

5. Of or pertaining to the senses or physical sensation; sensory.

And from the above definition, I’m speaking in this writing directly to senses other than sight and sound. Sight and sound are easily appeased with our iPods, MacBooks or iMacs, our DVDs and our mostly banal TV shows (Although I must admit I do love mocking “The Bachelor.”). I’m speaking more specifically to taste, smell and touch — and even more specifically to touch.

I can’t help but think of how many people experience so little (if any?) tactile sensations other than a keyboard and mouse, a remote and the buttons on the microwave. I, for one, lament the fact that I’m typing this and not writing it out with a pen — a glorious, black, felt-tipped pen that glides over a sturdy parchment. But we are in an age of electronic media. The keyboard has replaced the pen and pencil (Excepting, perhaps, the recent Sudoku rage.).

In recent years I’ve marveled at the apparent resurgence of scrapbooking. I’m convinced, although I have no evidence to back this up, this resurgence is due in part to our more electronic and automated culture. Scrapbooking is a very tactile and hands-on activity and allows for somewhat uninhibited creativity.

It’s just a thought, one that keeps coming back into my mind.