Today at the train station I was sitting next to a guy on his phone. It didn’t look too strange until you noticed that every other person on the bench was also on their phones scrolling or texting, completely absorbed. I was one of those people. A older woman remarked, rather abruptly, “All you kids are on your machines! DO YOU EVEN COMMUNICATE?” I was the only one who looked up to see her; eyes bulging wildly, hands clutching her trolly. I laughed politely as she cleared her throat in preparation for lecturing us misguided youths. I was quite taken aback by her outrage, all I remember her saying was, “You need to look up! Learn to analyse, get educated!” I felt quite awkward as I thought about how I’m studying media at uni and holding my phone constantly is a way for me to get work done and staying informed.

She has a point though, from now on I’ll try to put down my machine and smell the roses. But it did get me thinking, am I communicated more when I’m perceiving the physical environment I’m in? Or is carrying around a device that keeps me connected to the online world enhancing my “communication.”?

“Do you even communicate? ” is a very loaded question.

The new nike web series caught my attention because I thought it was quite innovative. They are combining traditional advertising with youtube series styled episodes. Usually I judge videos by how many views and how many likes/dislikes there are so I’d have to say that the series is quite cheesy but surprisingly successful. The series is just a huge ad with a story! On Master Chef the product placement is the driver for the show and sponsors go wild while the show tries to make the close up on Glad-wrap seem normal. So, it is interesting to see the opposite where the show is blatantly based around one product: Nike. I thought that people would hate to feel tricked or sucked into this kind of advertising, but the majority don’t care and are happy to enjoy free entertainment online. Nike is such a well-liked brand; selling fitness and happiness that viewers are glad to be a part of it. How long will it be before mainstream shows are all just coverups for selling stuff or maybe it has already happened.

My favourite series of the great Sir David Frederick Attenborough “Life in the Undergrowth” is a BBC nature documentary, first transmitted in 2005. This incredibly in depth study of creatures we usually turn a blind eye to; sometimes stepping on them as we saunter across the lawn, are revealed to be complex lifeforms. They have their own dirty politics within communities, dangerous “dating” cultures and oh the interspecies betrayal is unreal. Why do I need to watch “Pretty Little Liars” when I have entertaining insect drama.

I’m currently watching this first episode again as I type this (the first time I watched it was when I was 10 or so). For some reason – it might be the emphasis on male and female dynamics across different species- this show has me question our human sexuality and gender.

We’ve all congratulated the male penguins for guarding the egg while the female searches for food and the male seahorses for carrying the young; but what about insects? In this episode I found that distinct genders were rare. Conversely, most of the females were larger and the males were the “pretty ones” trying to impress potential mates with a vibrant display. But most like the Leopard Slugs and earthworms actually fertilise each other, neither carrying the dominant role, in perfect harmony. So if slugs can last without gender roles, perhaps we can too.

I had a laugh at the scorpions moonlit dance to the cleverly chosen spanish guitar backing track. Their dancing slow turned into fighting until the male stung the female to make her “drowsy enough” to pass on his sperm packet. ooo controversial. A year later she is alone and raising her babies.

This is crazy but if tiny creatures can go about their lives minding their own business and not judging other insects sexualities, and gender. We should follow in their many many footsteps. With our huge convoluted brains and dexterous thumbs, I’m sure we can pull it off.

Side note: In this series I’ve seen the most incredible physical transformations of creatures. Such as the mayfly, emerges from the water as a wet blob, and malts into a fairy-like creature. Their whole lives; birth to death; all happen within a day and they die fluttering despairingly, sapping the last of their energy source. As a very depressing kid, I thought about the mayfly and how their lives in comparison to ours are so very short. Now I see it as a nudge to appreciate what we’ve got a humans.

I’ll leave you with a great quote from the man himself:

“It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.”

In saying that, I think we have a lot to learn from the creatures that we so often dismiss.