A chat with a harbor seal made me question my whole comms setup

I was on a simple hull clean in Seattle last week, just me and my scrubber. This big harbor seal kept popping up next to my helmet, staring right into my faceplate. I swear, after the third time, I just said out loud, 'What's up, buddy?' over the comms. My tender, Dave, comes back with, 'You know he can't hear you, right? Your mic is internal.' It hit me that I talk to myself on dives way more than I realized, just because the comms are always open. Has anyone else caught themselves having full one-sided conversations down there?

3 comments

3 Comments

nathanwalker2mo ago

Realize we all talk to our tools now, like they're listening.

joel_mason222d ago

It's wild how fast it became normal to just narrate stuff to your phone or ask your car a question out loud. We've basically turned every device into a semi-listening buddy you can vent at without feeling too weird about it. The whole Cast Away thing hits different when you realize even talking to a volleyball was just us needing an audience, even a fake one. Now we got Alexa and Siri as standins for Wilson, and it's honestly not that different when you break it down. We're just social animals that will project a personality onto anything that blinks or makes a sound back.

karenhenderson2mo ago

Ever wonder if that open comm line is the only thing keeping you from going full Cast Away with a volleyball? @nathanwalker talking to his tools makes me think we're all just wired for chat, even when it's pointless.