[pct-l] Keep Me Connected, part 1

[Brian Lewis]

I can understand how a group of experienced hikers might want to give
guidance to those less experienced, that the latter should learn to function
in the woods without relying on electronics.  At the same time, I wouldn't
like to see an environment where use of electronics is considered to just be
inherently bad. In a HYOH mentality, we don't have to judge (approve or
disapprove) the approach that others take.  I'm sure I'll find points of
agreement with whoever these experts are on various topics.  I don't at all,
however, agree with one of the experts who says "*So by carrying around
iPods, walkie-talkies, SPOT devices, Personal Locator Beacon-type devices,
you're actually sort of decreasing the value that wilderness might have for
you in your personal life*."   Carrying around a device (just a single
device in my case) doesn't inherently force me to depend on it or filter my
wilderness experience through it.

I'll be interested to read the discussion in part 2, but I don't feel that
these experts can or should make universal judgments about when various
electronics are "warranted".
At the same time, I certainly agree that people with poor social training
can and too-often do use their electronics in annoying ways --- whether in
the wilderness, or as I experienced Wednesday on the greyhound bus to
Vancouver from Manning Park where I got pretty tired of hearing quite a long
cell phone discussion from a nearby seat!    At least in the wilderness I
can just walk away from such an annoyance.



             Gadet '08, www.postholer.com/brianle