Simon Armitage on BBC

Last night I was delighted to see one of my favourite poets Simon Armitage was on the telly on Prime, doing a show about gadgets and connectivity, called Upgrade Me.

      He is a self-confessed gadget freak, who uses new technologies within and as an adjunct to his life as a poet. He was born in 1963 in Marsden, UK, which ironically was the home of The Luddites. Simon took the viewers to the cemetery where the leader of the Luddites is buried. He explained how they were against the rise of Industrialisation in the rural sector, and destroyed machines that did the work of ten men. This movement, from the 1800s, gave its name to anyone, these days, who refuses to accept technology.

     Simon visited Seoul -  the home of the Samsung company -  and demonstrated how new devices are constantly being generated, and the latest cellphone/palm pilot/notebook is re-invented every three months.
As Simon went on the subway, he remarked that although South Koreans seemed remarkably interconnected in their wireless hi-tech society, he felt alone in the crowd. The camera showed a train full of commuters, each engaged in her/his private electronic universe. Quite tellingly, he said: 'At it's heart, this place feels cold.'

     Simon was shown reading an amazing piece of poetry to an audience containing many highschool students, all stunned into silence by his remarkable verbal dexterity. He read a poem about the fast pace of contemporary life, in which the text was suitably tangential, rapidly paced with short attention span, and rich in multiple meanings.

     Simon's reporting was well-balanced, demonstrating ways in which life has been improved by the availability of technology to young people and how a world of information and communication is at their disposal. He also showed ways in which new technologies in communication serve to estrange people and cause a disconnection between humans and their communities. An excellent programme.