Synopsis

Source: http://www.westernlivingmagazine.com/2014/10/10/big-deal-contributoris-finalist-governor-generals-award/

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“The End of Absence: Reclaiming What We’ve Lost in a World of Constant Connection” is a novel by Michael Harris published in 2014 which critiques the Digital Age and the Information Society of today. The constant issue presented in this book is the one which is presented as the opening line to the first chapter: “Soon enough, nobody will remember life before the Internet. What does this unavoidable fact mean?” Harris explores the way in which future generations grow up knowing nothing else except that of the mass amounts of information at their fingertips.

He speaks from an interesting point of view—Harris is a part of the generation which uniquely understands life in two phases which sandwich a revolution: Before the Internet and After the Internet. The revolution, Harris explains, is a change so extreme that it parallels historically with the last revolution that altered our world so drastically: the printing press. The way in which the printed press changed human communication forever is the same way in which the Internet changed the way we think about, search for, and expect to obtain knowledge and information. This expectation is what guides his study of the Digital Generation—people who grew up obtaining any information they need quickly and easily lack one very (debatably) important part of life which the previous generations thrived upon: absence. Through the Internet, people can know and see anything at any time; they can never be bored because there is a world of interesting games, readings, films, and endless amounts of entertainment on each of their digital devices; they may never be too far from their friends and loved ones again and they expect to know what each other is up to at any point in time. These are the ideas that Harris explores through his studies in “The End of Absence”.

Furthermore, Harris explored his own lack of absence throughout the writing of this novel by giving up the Internet for one month of his life. He wanted to see the ways in which he could or could not thrive with the absence which he grew up with, but has lost since the dawning of modern technology. He struggles with research, communication, and outright boredom, obtaining a new viewpoint on how severely the Internet has changed even those who grew up without it.