In the study hall, above checkout lines, even into public bathrooms: The video revolution follows us everywhere, like an obnoxious suitor. Now expect the blinding quick-cut images and tinny soundtrack to encroach upon one of the last sanctuaries of solitude and private space - your airplane seat.
That you've paid good money for that seat and should be able to keep it inviolable for the time you occupy it is immaterial. On all its jumbo jets Northwest Airlines is outfitting seatbacks with small videoscreens, beckoning you to punch a button to watch movies, play video games and - of course - shop a video direct-mail catalogue.One marketer of the video screens brags of "launching a new business of airborne merchandising." Congratulations. But surely one of the primal attractions of flight is that a person is, after all, off the ground, with the deliciously peaceful suspension this implies - away from the nagging of family members, the chronic itch of business worries and, until recently, the incessant tug of commerce.
Technology, itself the fruit of undistracted thought, has sent peace of mind into a tailspin.