Does Presence Matter?

Our class discussion of Adorno and Horkhiemer and their criticism of technology provoked a lot of comments in class and thinking outside of it. For my friends who read my blog and don’t get to grace the COM 641 classroom, these guys were concerned that technology was making high culture accessible to the masses.

Terrible, I know.

While I don’t agree with their criticism of technology – I’m glad I have access to high culture events that used to be reserved for the bourgeois – I do question if the use of technology to experience events alters our experience.

I’ve personally observed this at church. I attend a large church in the Grand Rapids area, and the church leaders decided to use technology to bring the message to the masses. Instead of cramming 1,000 people into a room, a single message is broadcast into 3 different “video venues.” Attendees enjoy the experience of a smaller gathering of people while enjoying the message of a gifted teacher.

I personally have chosen not to attend the video venues because I prefer the experience of watching the service “live.” Even though the only part broadcast is the message, I continue to cling to the physical presence of the experience to make it real to me. Because presence matters. Or does it?

During class this week, one of my classmates shared his experience of watching the Detroit Pistons win the NBA championship in 1990. In his opinion, he was at the game – even though he watched it at the Palace broadcast on TV while the actual game took place in Portland.

Nowadays, we often say we experienced or “saw” an event take place even though we only get the mediated version – whatever is broadcast over the TV or internet. Since our worlds are broadened to include every mediated event, does presence matter? Do we have to be somewhere for the experience?

Obviously, presence still matters. Otherwise, no one would purchase season sports tickets. After all, who wants to pay the outrageous prices to sit in varying weather? And if presence didn’t matter, we would all Skype with each other and save resources traveling to visit in person.

However, I think we often settle for second best. I’m not able to see my brother every week because he lives in Arlington, Virginia, so I settle for his phone calls, emails and Facebook posts. I would argue that it does alter the experience. Online interactions will never replace the value of face-to-face, and even though we have access to different experiences, it doesn’t necessarily mean we receive the same quality of experience.