Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that people seem to be turning into zombies? I'm not sure if it is just my imagination, or exactly what could be causing it, but I've noticed that more and more people seem to be becoming so preoccupied with themselves that the often don't seem to be aware of what is going on around them. The place where I notice it the most is in stores, especially grocery stores. I run into many people who are standing in the middle of an aisle, staring dumbfounded at some items, and they don't move as I approach them. They like to put their cart on one side of the aisle, and stand on the other side. If I need to go past them, I literally need to walk up to within a couple feet and say "excuse me" quite loudly, or else they don't seem to know that I'm there. Perhaps I am just being hyper-conscious, but at times, I too find myself in these trance-like states. Could it be that chemtrails are doing something to us, or all of the radio waves shooting through our air, or is it just that our society these days is so intensely focused on greed and consumption?

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), April 30, 2000

Answers

Hmmm...perhaps from massive amounts of easter candy consumed all this week? They have to crash sometime you know. ; )

-- y (y@y.y), April 30, 2000.

No, it is definitely not your imagination. And funny you should mention the supermarket thing -- that happened to me the other day. I used to notice it a lot when I lived in NYC, but it was mostly the tourists that were responsible -- the entire group stands in the middle of the sidewalk, right in the middle of the lunch rush, and has a group discussion to decide if they want to go into THAT restaurant or the one across the street, completely unaware of the thousands of people almost screaming EXCUSE ME.....(uh, yeah, there are NYers who actually do say "excuse me"). I was just discussing the "dumbing-down" of humanity last night, too. Don't know if it's a focus on greed and consumption (though I think that has a whole lot to do with it) as much as the I-Don't-Care-About-Anything-But-ME Syndrome.

Then again, I suppose they go hand-in-hand.

-- Patricia (PatriciaS@lasvegas.com), April 30, 2000.

Sorry HAWK, nothing doing. T%he explanation is much simpler: those transfixed shoppers thought they would just step down Aisle 8 and grab some juice for tomorrow's breakfast, but upon reaching the juice shleves, the "buy juice" sector of their short-term memory was afflicted with the equivalent of a DOS attack: 19 brands of juice 43 flavors per brand; Cran-Grape; Cran-Apple; Cranicot; Cran-Strawberyy; Cran-Raspberry; Cran-Guarana; Cranicurrant; in-store "house" brands; nutra-sweetened; aspartamed; lo-cal; 100% pure juice; 10%; 25%, organic; vine-ripened; filtered water; unfiltered; spring water -- you get the pitcure. It's simple system lock-up! I'm starting to have it now with premium ice-cream -- ever since Dreyer's opened their new line (20-30 flavors) which includes Black Raspberry Avalanche: add that to Ben & Jerry's; Hagen Dazs and all the others, and I hit overload on this item the third week of March, 2000.

Happy hunting.

>"<

-- (nuts@upina.cellrelayytower), April 30, 2000.

LOL! Yes, I think our level of stress is steadily increasing as well, and all those choices of products has a lot to do with it. That happened to me the last time I went to buy toothpaste. They had the "tartar control" type, the "whitening" type, and the "baking soda" type, but they didn't have the "baking soda whitening tartar control" type! Uuuugh!!

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), April 30, 2000.

Consensus? How quaint!

The reason I say this is that I live near Portland, OR, home of the worlds' (purportedly) largest bookstore POWELL's -- whic now advertises on WorldNetDaily. Here, I have often experienced the effect of being an Okie tourist in New York: you walk down towering aisles of titles, shelves rising 15-18 ft, high, aisles stretching out endlessly. YTou walk in thnking to buy something to take to the beach; or maybe a noted sork by a famous author .... but the effect that overcomes you is ... F*CK!!!! WHY Bother?!!!! The realization creeps over you that there's no point in reading ANYTHING becuase you're only advancing your knowledge by the most infinitesimal fraction against the CITY OF BOOKS that awaits. And then you start to think that in the time it take syou to really read a good book, they will print 3,000 more titles that you'll never read ....

Those folks in the supermarket aisles have just given up!

>"<

-- (nuts@upina.cellrelaytower), May 01, 2000.

I should go to bed.

But, Hawk, I do see this happening all the time. I think some of the answers so far are on track.

I work in direct marketing, and the trade press has had many articles in the last year dedicated to the newest dilemma-How do we sell our product to an audience that has so many choices? There is so much more "noise" now than there has ever been, that the marketers task is to break through that noise and get noticed.

There are phones, cell phones, computers, lap tops, palm pilots, dvd's, cd's, dat's, tv's, big-screen tv's, etc etc and there are so many choices of what to do that people are just zoning out- information overload.

I think the people who are standing still are trying to reach equlibrium in the noise-they have heard x amount of commercials in the last 24 hours, have seen x billboards, see x banner ads on the internet, have seen x space ads in the newspaper-This does not compute.

The inevitable decline in concentration should lead to some intesting effects down the road. Sorry, got to go, the cell phone is ringing.....

-- FutureShock (gray@matter.think), May 01, 2000.

What was the question?

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), May 01, 2000.

The question was, are people turning into zombies? The answer is a resounding yes, caused most likely by stress from information overload. Too much information running through my brain
Too much information driving me insane
Too much information running through my brain
Too much information driving me insane
I've seen the whole world six times over
Sea of Japan to the Cliffs of Dover
Oh I've seen the whole world six times over
Sea of Japan to the Cliffs of Dover
Oh
Overkill
Overview
Over my dead body
Over me
Over you
Over everybody


-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), May 01, 2000.

Ive been thinking along the same lines now for some time. Its happening to me as well. Seem to have lost something. Just cant put my finger on it.

-- (space cadet @ .com), May 01, 2000.

"Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that people seem to be turning into zombies?"

I don't see this as a new phenomenon, Hawk. I think many of us simply handle mundane tasks on auto-pilot, and always have. While buying the chicken for Tuesday's dinner, the brain has already moved ahead to thoughts of Wednesday's dinner, etc. It's not really "engaged" in the task at hand.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), May 01, 2000.

The pool of bad drivers has risen rapidly in the last year.

-- (...@...), May 01, 2000.

--:

I totally agree on the bad driver pool : ) .

There are zombies on the road and it has gotten quite perilous-How f****** important is that call you are making on that damn cell phone? Do you really need all that space in that SUV? Do you have to get there 2 seconds before me, and so are justified in nearly taking off my fender?

-- FutureShock (gray@matter.think), May 01, 2000.

It's likely due to all the Solar bombardment that the Earth is getting these days, along with the massive bombardment of brain-dead stuff on TV. Mind-homoginizing RAP music also takes it's toll. And, lastly but not leastly, they're probably revving up HAARP to activate all the fluoride that has been stored in our brains to damage selective portions and makes us more pliable and robotized (anyone remember Dr. Who and the Daleks)?

-- Observer (observer@lotsto.observe), May 01, 2000.

Luckily I still have lots & lots of tinfoil left.

-- flora (***@__._), May 01, 2000.

I don't know about you, but I feel good! =o)

p.s...amen to that futureshock

-- cin (cinlooo@aol.com), May 01, 2000.

FS: So true -- I always wondered why people in NYC needed SUVs. To navigate the rugged canyons of Manhattan? I know there are massive potholes and all, but really. As to cell phones, I was on the NJ Turnpike once, in basically STOPPED traffic, and was hit from behind by a moron in a Lexus on a cell phone. (They're worse here in LV. EVERYONE chats on the cell phone while driving. No one seems to be able to find the *DIRECTIONAL SIGNAL* in their vehicle either. I just love it when I have to *guess* where they're going next.)

As to the unending amount of choices we have for things like toothpaste, juices, etc., do you all think we have reached the saturation point? For example, why are there approximately 27 different brands of allergy medication, all of which do basically the same thing? I have experienced the "trance-like states" when I have to buy this stuff. Why are there entire aisles housing only "toilet paper"? (Let's not even go into the "shampoo" aisle.) Are we all eventually going to simply stand there in the middle of stores, open-mouthed, staring at the shelves, eyes glazed over?

(Reminds me of that film, "Moscow On The Hudson" where Robin Williams plays a Russian emigre/defector, and has to go to the supermarket to buy coffee. Poor guy finds the coffee aisle -- and the entire aisle is coffee. Has no idea what to do; I think he runs away screaming. I empathize.)

-- Patricia (PatriciaS@lasvegas.com), May 01, 2000.

Well, most of the kids in the stores are zombies, too, and they aren't even looking at the food.

-- Normally (Oxsys@aol.com), May 01, 2000.

These responses are getting more and more humorous. I'm not much of a consumer. I tend to know the brand/type I like best, etc., so can typically just zoom in on the product and zoom out again. The problem comes when the brand/type is discontinued. This only happens to OUR favorites, thereby revealing that our taste is inconsistent with the rest of the world.

I'm living proof that folks DO drive on automatic pilot. Think about the first few times you drove to work. You consciously think about "turn right at X, turn left on Y, etc." After a time, the instructions regarding where to turn, etc. are so familiar that you needn't consciously think about it at all. Your subconscious plays the program and your body obeys. Your subconscious also watches out for folks who cut in, etc. and your body again obeys by slowing down, swerving, etc. While your subconscious handles the drive, your conscious is free to think about other things as long as the thoughts don't interrupt the subconscious program in progress. One can drive perfectly well while kids in the car complain, [and I'd have to make the same analogy to folks who use cell phones in cars, although I've never had one] UNTIL the program in progress becomes interrupted.

Cell-phone users are OBVIOUSLY engaging in other mental activities while driving, but I think we ALL engage in other mental activities while driving. I've found myself on two or three occasions wondering how I got from A to B and where I was on that route. I'd interrupted the program. On two occasions, I'd changed jobs and where my normal routine had been to go West on an interstate, I now had to go East, and found myself going West. The automatic pilot kicked in before it had been reprogrammed.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), May 01, 2000.

Patricia:

You said-"why are there approximately 27 different brands of allergy medication..."

It gets even worse. Ingredients from those allergy medications are repackaged as sleeping pills. Sominex and tylenol PM contain diphenhydramine hydrochloride(Benadryl) as the knock-out pill. I always found it humorous that the sominex was priced much higher than the generic bendryl(OTC). LOL.

-- FutureShock (gray@matter.think), May 01, 2000.

Hawk:

WOW....It isnt only ME either. No conspiracy stuff, strait up honesty, In Walmart, I watched a woman (been bout month ago) just slowly going down the aisle with a blank stare, so I stood watching, noticed she didnt appear to be 'focused' just aimlessly wandering around.

I at that point began to analyze the situation. I wonder, do we have so much money we just look around, confused trying to figure out what to do w/extra cash,? Maybe this sounds dumb, but I SEE lots of people, and yes , mainly in the stores doing same thing.

As for myself, it is very difficult for me to remember stuff, like I used to. Anyone else? No, it isnt because of drinking, I dont drink but once in awhile when stress level gets off the chart.

My aunts theory is something being placed in air, IF there were a conspiracy I'd go for the 'water'..

Interesting posts here, thanks so much Hawk, I really thought I was the only one who was 'noticing" same. Nice to know I'm not the only one.

BTW, I'm young,only 38 tooo young ,to have short term memory problems. Although I've heard short-term memory problems is also sign of stress.

Nice thread, again, thanks

<<
-- consumer (shh@aol.com), May 01, 2000.

Patricia -

It's been years since I've seen Moscow on the Hudson, but I seem to recall that Williams' reaction to the coffee aisle was even more dramatic: he fainted. Just keeled over from sensory overload.

However, maybe the ol' grey cells are failing me on this one...

-- DeeEmBee (macbeth1@pacbell.net), May 01, 2000.

HA!!! Yes, I agree with all of this...Laughing about the auto pilot thing (Anita)...one time several years ago I moved, and for 2 or 3 months, I would go home, pull into the driveway, turn off the car, get out, and then realize...."OOPS...I don't live here anymore!"

I agree that we are all being bombarded with too many choices in all areas of our consumerism. And also, just day to day paying the house bills has gotten complicated...You can't tell any more if the bill is correct or not, without spending 1/2 hour studying it!

My phone bill, for example: I get one for my calls, and another bill from a different company who owns the phone lines on the phone poles! Our bill has charges for: National Access Contribution, universal connectivity charge, carrier line charge, federal tax, state tax surcharge, public utilities commission service fee, public service company tax, touch call fee, residence line fee, interstate subscriber line charge, intrastate surcharge, telecommunications relay service fee, 911 service surcharge.

They must have had some good meetings to figure out so many ways to charge us!! Hired some specialists!

I have found that taking Ginko has helped a lot with my ability to think clearly and quickly. And, I agree, my thick headed zombie feelings seems to increase when I am tired or stressed.

I've noticed that this spring I feel quite a bit calmer and more relaxed, more alert mentally. And I think it's partly because since I stocked up for y2k, that I haven't had to go to Walmart or the grocery store or Costco in 4 months now! I stay away from the crowds, do my work, and don't have to make the daily choices about what to buy.

But I still get these awful phone bills....grrrrrrr.

-- Margo (margos@bigisland.com), May 01, 2000.

Dee --

That might've been it; it's been years since I've seen it as well. I just remember completely sympathizing with the scene (and LMAO for awhile after) -- even that long ago I was aware of "too many choices".

Margo --

At least you didn't try to put your key in the door (yep, did that once).

Anita --

Is that like when you're driving and suddenly you realize you can't remember the last 10 or 15 minutes of the drive? (And it's ALWAYS *my* favorite brand that's discontinued. Never fails.)

consumer --

I think stress does a lot more to us than even the experts know at this point in time. I've been trying to do a little self-experiment; if I find it hard to remember something, or some stupid little ailment starts bothering me, or whatever-out-of-the-ordinary is going on, I think about what was going on just prior to the incident (which is difficult if the incident is "not remembering" [g]). Completely unscientific, but I've noticed that stress seemed to be present in almost all cases.

-- Patricia (PatriciaS@lasvegas.com), May 01, 2000.

You're probably onto something there. It would seem to be a biological advantage {when stressed} to cut a bunch of extraneous stuff loose, and ailments force us to regroup in a physical manner.

-- flora (***@__._), May 01, 2000.

>> Could it be that chemtrails are doing something to us, or ...? <<

No need to invoke chemtrails. There are a lot of people out there who are sleep-deprived and consistantly running up their sleep shortfall to the point where their brains barely function by the end of the day.

Apparently the average length of a night's sleep has dropped by about 25% to 30% in the past century to around 6 hours a night. If that's the average, it means there are plenty of folks running on 5 hours or less.

-- Brian McLaughlin (brianm@ims.com), May 01, 2000.

I still think it's fluoride and HAARP!

-- Observer (observer@lotsto.observe), May 01, 2000.

Ground control to Major Tom...

-- David Bowie (I.Love@Iman.__), May 01, 2000.

Patricia:

"Is that like when you're driving and suddenly you realize you can't remember the last 10 or 15 minutes of the drive?"

Yes...I HAVE had those experiences, but I've also on rare occasions found myself in a position where the autopilot had disengaged in between instructions. I pulled over, wondering where I was. I felt confident that I should be continuing in the same direction, but the environment at autopilot disengagement wasn't familiar at all. This is actually a programming error, but one that we don't consider until the program fails.

From what I've experienced, auto-pilots are programmed with the instructions given initially. Turn left on street X, turn right onto Highway Y, etc. No landmarks are given for where we are in the program, so if the program has been in use for any length of time, we don't know if we've passed street X when the program disengages and we find ourself at Beach street [not in the program].

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), May 01, 2000.

My sister & I have been comparing notes on our elders lately. One thing that she has noticed is how the same story is spun off in the car when passing the same landmark, time after time.

I've begun to torment her prematurely by reciting obscure stuff in certain ares. I have no doubt that if I reach a certain age in that environment, I will do the same thing - only mean it!

Another aside... our mom was in extreme physical distress, hospital disorientation, and experiencing the after effects of meds such as morphine last week. She would go through periods where she didn't recognize us as individuals, but remembered specific, telling, episodes.

For instance, she didn't remember who my sister was - except for an intense incident that happened with her & a chicken nearly a lifetime ago. I tell ya, the brain is a fascinatin' thing!

-- flora (***@__._), May 01, 2000.

Anita,

"I tend to know the brand/type I like best, etc., so can typically just zoom in on the product and zoom out again."

Just curious, what kind of toothpaste do you buy?

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), May 01, 2000.

I think many people in todays society are suffering from sensory overload. I know I am.

Even though I'm retired, there's still a lot going on in my life. Sometimes when I'm stressed and have too many balls in the air, I can't think straight or remember things, so I just say to myself. "This can all wait. I'm going to sit on the porch and watch the birds at the feeder and to hell with all the "I have to do so and so." This always helps clear things up.

But I to have noticed the zombies and on occasion I turn into one. I was to meet a friend in a parking lot in town, and I had something on my mind and drove right past her and had to circle back. It's mindlessness--too much going on.

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), May 01, 2000.

I love my SUV.

I love my cell phone.

I use my cell phone in the car a lot.

My calls are very important.

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), May 01, 2000.

Ooooo ... Unk! I like it. Dr. Seuss for the New Millenium. Can you give us more? Illustrations too? MORE PLEASE

>"<

-- (nuts@upina.cellrelaytower), May 02, 2000.

"I use my cell phone in the car a lot."

That explains the brain tumor.

-- (zapping.your@brain.com), May 02, 2000.

Hawk,

And I thought you were talkin' bout the clerks! LOL!

"standing in the middle of an aisle, staring dumbfounded at some items, and they don't move as I approach them."

Seems to me everyone is just trying to go too damn fast,it's like there is So much going on at once that there can be no real focus.Maybe it's just time to slow down a bit and comprehend what is going on around us,taking the time to appreciate the small wonderful things that are so easily taken for granted.

Slow and easy,like a day at the beach.

-- capnfun (capnfun1@excite.com), May 02, 2000.

I use my cell phone in the car,

To make appointments near and far.

I drive a big gas-sucking hog,

That belches ozone-crushing smog.

I care not what lane Ive wandered in,

I care not cause Ive got thick-skin.

If you think I give a damn,

Ive news for you, Sam-I-am.

My wasteful habits give you a fit,

And frankly I dont give a shit.

Cause its like this, now dont you see?

That I care only about me.

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), May 02, 2000.

Zombies in the supermarket.........from an insider's point of view....

"Excuse me, can I ask you a question?" (correct reply is to walk away)

"Do you work here?" (this to a person bent over cutting open a case of stewed tomatoes, or wheeling a stack of them 50lb detergent tubs. "No dipshit, I just like playing with their crap here, I am shopping after I kill your toddler, anything else now?".)

"Where's your bathroom?"(mental reply is "out back next to the dumpster dumb-ass")

"Wow, if it would have been a snake it would have bitten me!" ( when shown they are right in front of what they are asking for..correct retort should be,,,too bad for the rest of us, it wasn't)

"Where is your toilet paper?"(ahh next to my sh*tter at home, where is yours?)

"Excuse me, are you open?" (heard anytime one is within 1000 yards of a cash register)

"Is this all you have?"(standard reply while viewing the 100 varietes of relish on hand. Correct reply is..."Look granny, if we had 300 you would stand there the complete blob you are and still want more, so best f#ck-off and die already. You got issues K? I am just an underpaid stockboy, not your analyst.")

"Are you closed?"(asked by one standing outside looking-in past the We're closed sign)

"What is that sauce I need to make Fetticine Alfredo?"(asked to one who thinks popping microwave popcorn is cooking. Any replies from said should be exercised knowing this. Look, if I could cook, would I be slinging these cases Lady?)

"Which aisle is dog food on?"(answered aisle #6, and then one gets the "what??" look. Retort is #6, between #5 and #7 understand? or is this way beyond you lady?)

"Where do you keep your ice cream?"(ahh on a pallet next to the charcoal, like this is a mystery to you where we would keep IC?)

"You look like someone who knows everything" (Ya Einstein, I just work here as a community service deal between inventions, shut- up will ya)

"Have anything fresher?"(As ifff, however we need to push this purple stuff first, so the answer is NO, we do not have fresher for the likes of you, que?)

"Have a smaller size?"(nope, just the 1-2-3+ oz sizes are available, they discontinued water in them really small bottles a while back, sorree)

"You don't have any Budweiser, do you?"(nada Bud, you just confirmed that now didn't you. But I do like your openess in being wrong, but sorree, we be out like you said)

"Have any of them long kitchen matches?"(Nope we out)"So you are out?"(yep we out)"You know, them reeeally long ones?"(look are you deaf? we are out-nada-we don't got none, clear yet, are you getting it? earth to dubass---wake-up)

"They moved everything" (yep, bout 2 years ago when we remodeled, you need to get out more often. But hey, tell you what, you go nextdoor and grab a cup of Joe, and wes-all will put everything back as to make you feel right at home, K?)

"Where are your nuts?"(reply depends ya know)

"How much is this?" (25 cents)"Weh, that is high don't ya think?"(only high since you ain't me making the dough I do, yes a quarter for 5 sticks of gum is a rip-off too bad for you isn't it. I suggest you climb in your car and travel cross town to Joe's Market, I hear they have these for 23centavos, should make you feel better and all not getting ripped-off like here)

"What do I need to write a check?"(money in your account would be good. Now where exactly have you been for the last,,,say,,,30 years?)

phone call..."What time do you close"? (we fittin to close- up,,,say,,eightish,,,but could be 7ish,,who knows,,,ya know. BTW, we are already closed, but thanks for calling Bill's 24 hour market)

-- skip the stockboy (threes@crowd.org), May 02, 2000.

LMAO

Stockboy, Tooooo Funnnny....

I betcha go thru that in the 'real' world huh?

---consumer who's asked dumber things than that....LOL

-- consumer (shh@aol.com), May 02, 2000.

Stockboy:

That WAS good, and I'm guilty. I scoured an entire store looking for the canned onion rings that go on green-bean casseroles. Where were they? Right next to the canned green-beans. Go figure.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), May 02, 2000.

Does this qualify for zombie-hood?

One sunny day about a year ago, I was walking downtown, reading a book. Before I knew it, I had angled off the sidewalk and walked about five feet or more into a parking gate, bending it way back. Well, as the gate had these wonderful elastic qualities, I was snapped back down the driveway entrance almost into the street!

I luckily landed on my feet, glanced around in a cool, nonchalant way, noticed that apparently no one saw me, brushed off my clothes, and continued on my way as if absolutely nothing had happened.

In case you're wondering, this experience was enough to make me put the book away -- for the day, anyway. Bad habits die hard with me, you know... :)

-- eve (eve_rebekah@yahoo.com), May 02, 2000.

LMAO EVE...

Great Story., I got to believe it is true, too bizarre to make up...

Thanks for the best laugh I've had in awhile.

-- consumer (shh@aol.com), May 02, 2000.

Hi consumer,

Yep -- I'm sorry to have to say that it's absolutely true! When I immerse myself in a book, sometimes it's like nothing else exists anymore...

-- eve (eve_rebekah@yahoo.com), May 02, 2000.