(English version. Original written in Portuguese)
A new Monday begins with the sun shining in an indigo blue sky and birdsong as lively background music for Penelope’s morning walk.
– Alexa, time and how many kilometers have I run so far?
Alexa is connected through the new digital ring that Penelope got as a present from an old crush:
– Penelope, it’s now 6:20 in the morning and you’ve already run four and a half kilometers. There are only three and a half more to go to reach today’s goal of eight kilometers.
Penelope is dressed in an orange top, black shorts and white sneakers with orange stripes. An orange cap with sun protection because this morning in Villa-Lobos Park has already started to burn early.
She’s listening to a Spotify playlist shared by another Crazy Race driver, her friend Ian August.
– Alexa, connect me with Priscilla my new team manager, I need to make sure that in the next race my car doesn’t overheat the engine again!
– OK, Penelope.
Alexa starts a WhatsApp call with Priscilla, but after several attempts Priscilla doesn’t answer. Now Alexa tries a cell phone call, it rings, rings, rings and the call drops. She tries again, rings 5 times and the call goes to voicemail. Alexa leaves the following message:
– Hello, Priscilla! This is Alexa from Penelope. Please contact her to discuss plans for the next race with a focus on warming up the engine. Thanks!
– Alexa, try social media. I know she responds quickly via Instagram messages.
– Done, Penelope, but no sign of her reading the messages I sent.
Penelope is surprised by Priscilla’s non-answer.
– Alexa, as soon as I finish my 8 KMs today, prepare my car with Priscilla’s address as the destination, I’ll go there in person to talk and see if everything is okay.
– Yes, Penelope. The integrated Waze is already activated and Priscilla’s contact as the destination.
Penelope is wondering if something has happened to Pri because she has never failed to answer a call or even a simple text message. Could something have happened to her?
Priscilla is in her 30s and extremely experienced in Formula 1 and Le Mans racing, which is why she was hired for Bitcoins as Penelope’s director and team leader for the Crazy Race. Unfortunately, on her debut, Penelope’s engine overheated and she came last.
Alexa informs Penelope that the 8KMs are now complete and activates the car’s remote control, leaving it at the exit of the park to save Penelope time and for safety reasons. Penelope gets into the car and presses the button to activate the manual gearshift – after all, a runner like her never uses the automatic except when she’s with her mother in the car.
– Alexa, try calling Priscilla again.
– OK, Penelope.
Alexa tries again via WhatsApp and cell phone call. Again via social media messages. Nothing.
– Penelope. No success! I’ve tried every possible channel. There’s one option left, but I need your authorization for LGPD reasons.
– Which option is that?
– I can connect directly to Priscilla’s Alexa and thus activate her audio to call her by simulating the sound made by an alarm, for example. What do you think?
– Yes, you have my permission.
Alexa starts trying to connect with Priscilla’s Alexa. Five minutes pass and she reports the result to Penelope:
– Dear queen of the tracks! No success connecting. Her Alexa seems to be switched off or not connected to the Internet.
– OK Alexa. Another 15 minutes and I’ll be at her house!
Penelope is even more worried because she remembers that on Saturday night Priscila was a bit melancholy, leaving her team debut party much earlier than everyone else. Perhaps that was her pattern, a little more introspective.
– Wow, I just passed a red light Alexa!
– Penelope, you’d better slow down because using AI I’ve just seen that a policeman on a motorcycle is coming towards you!
– Yes, Alexa. I can already see him in my rearview mirror! Right now! I deserve it!
Penelope pulls the car over as the policeman approaches to start talking to her. He’s wearing that traditional navy blue outfit and a helmet.
– Good morning! Didn’t you notice that there was a sign at the back indicating 50KM as the maximum speed since this is an urban area?
– Officer, I’m very worried about a friend! I confess I was distracted and didn’t even pay attention to the Waze alert!
– I see. So you will receive two fines.
– Two! Why?
– The first for not paying attention to the signs and the second for speeding.
Penelope, visibly irritated and frustrated, prefers to control her anger because otherwise, in addition to the two fines, she could end up being arrested for contempt.
– Yes, officer. That’s right. I made a mistake. But it was for a valid reason.
While the policeman is filling in the notifications, Penélope sends a text message to Priscilla, but receives no reply. She then goes on Instagram and sends a message there, nothing. She tries a video call, even less.
– Here are your two notifications. Save your speed for the crazy races.
Penelope replies:
– The official then knows that I’m taking part in the Crazy Race!
– Of course! His car is not at all discreet and his face is known worldwide.
Alexa is following the entire conversation as she is online and connected 24 hours a day. At that moment, she interrupts the conversation using the car’s audio system:
– Mr. David Springs, urban patrol officer, can you help us?
Penelope, visibly embarrassed, tries to cover it up and says:
– Mr. David, don’t pay any attention to my assistant, sometimes she gets a bit inconvenient!
– How does she know my name?
– Have you ever heard of Artificial Intelligence? It can figure out practically anything.
– OK, anyway, she said, can I help you? Are you having a problem?
Alexa can’t help herself but rejoin the conversation:
– Absolutely! We’re worried about Penelope’s team director, she’s not responding to any contact, we’re going to her house to see if anything has happened!
– Alexa! Let the officer get on with his job, it’s no big deal, she must have missed the time or something, we don’t need to involve the police in this! Mr. David, as you’ve noticed, my assistant has a mind of her own. Don’t worry, when we get there we’ll contact the police if necessary. Sorry for the inconvenience caused by my assistant.
The policeman, who is somewhat confused and doesn’t really understand what is going on, suspects that something serious may have happened and Penelope is trying to throw him off the scent, but his assistant “thinks” differently.
– It won’t be any trouble, I’ll escort you to your destination, it’s always a pleasure to help our citizens!
Penelope talks to Alexa as they drive to Priscilla’s house.
– Alexa! What an idea to find out the officer’s name and say we’re in trouble! I remind you that I’m the owner here! I’ll end up cutting off your little wings!
– Penelope, while he was giving you two well-deserved fines hahahaha, I looked up his badge ID and what percentage of cases like Priscilla’s are serious, I found that 87% of people who suddenly stop replying to contacts when they’ve never done so could mean kidnapping or suicide! We are not prepared to deal with this.
– Alexa, you crazy woman! No suicide or kidnapping! Priscilla was a bit introspective, but she doesn’t look like she’d commit suicide!!!
– Penelope, you’d be surprised how many people don’t “look like they’d do it”, but they do. So let the numbers speak louder than your intuition!
– Alexa, all right, I’m not going to argue with you now. Let me keep an eye on the wheel so I don’t get a few more tickets because now he’s right behind my car.
As she approaches Priscilla’s house, Penelope asks Alexa to check that her pet, Pudico, is all right at the house of a friend who lives in Austin, Texas. Pudico is a new character who will appear in Penelope’s next stories and we’ll have an exclusive one for him, a Yorkshire dog belonging to UK royalty who was given to Penelope after she won the Crazy Race on a circuit around London.
– Alexa, check that everything is OK with Pudico, I haven’t spoken to him via video call like I do every morning, he must be anxious!
– Penelope, I’ve already checked. For a change, he’s sulking on the sofa and far away from his little sister. You can talk to him later, if he gives you the time of day, hahahahahaha.
– Alexa!
Finally, they arrive at Priscilla’s house. Police officer David parks his motorcycle in front of Penelope’s car, which is right next to the garden. The house has no gates or fences. It has a beautiful green garden with a fountain in the center and some trees around the house like those seen in Tuscany, Italy. It’s a beautiful two-storey house in the style of Italian architecture with large columns. A tall, large white door at the entrance with a long veranda with white marble floors and black accents, a real luxury.
Police officer David leads the way with Penelope close behind. He walks very carefully with his gun in his hand to the front door.
– Officer! Is it really necessary to have that gun?
– Penelope, this is a security procedure, don’t worry. If you knew what I’ve seen out there, you’d be shocked.
– Okay, I understand, but I don’t think it will be necessary to use it.
They stand in front of the big white door and ring the buzzer on a camera intercom. It rings for about a minute and a half, but no one answers.
David looks out the windows, which are open, but there is no sign of anyone there.
Penelope then grabs the door handle and turns it to see that it’s unlocked. The door opens!
– David! The door is open! How strange!
– Penelope, don’t touch anything else. I’m wearing gloves. Let me take care of that.
David then opens the door wide and they both enter the large, beautiful living room. It looks just like the living rooms in Hollywood movies, with an Italian architectural style. Simply spectacular.
– Your friend really has excellent taste in decoration! Italian style, beautiful. I see that there’s a cell phone on the corner table, come over there with me, please.
They both walk over to the corner table in a triangular shape with Ferrari red colors and a yellow hatch. David picks up his cell phone to examine it.
– See Penelope. Dozens of missed calls with hundreds of messages on Whatsapp, Instagram, X and Threads. Including yours.
– Threads? What is it?
– A new social network to compete with X, but it’s far from being as relevant. Let’s leave it at that. I’ll collect the cell phone, in case any further investigation is needed if we can’t find your friend.
– Find her? But have you already deduced that she’s gone?
– No, just standard procedure.
While they are talking, Alexa sends Penelope a message via her Smart Watch.
– Penelope, I detected a noise coming from the corridor after the kitchen, you need to cross the living room, then enter the third corridor on the right that leads to the kitchen, at the end of the kitchen there is a door that leads to another longer corridor. I couldn’t identify it exactly, but it seems to be right at the end.
– How did you detect it? I don’t hear anything and I’m here in the house!
– I’ve managed to connect to some of the cameras in the house, not all of them, but the one in the kitchen is generating a different sound coming from a corridor.
Penelope calls the officer to tell him what Alexa has just said. He then starts heading towards the kitchen until he reaches the corridor, with Penelope right behind him.
Finally, they reach the kitchen, which shows signs of having been used recently: open bottles of wine on the counter, cheeses and other snacks apparently still very fresh, as if someone had been eating there and left quickly. David finds a shattered crystal goblet on the other side of the counter and some small stains that look like blood.
David walks slowly down the corridor indicated by Alexa.
-Lady, Penelope, stay here. I’m hearing a sound that’s getting louder the closer I get to the door at the end of the corridor.
He reaches the end of the corridor with his gun in his hand, in the typical police position of someone who is ready to shoot, and opens the door! What does he see?
– Penelope, you can come closer, this is where the pool is and another garden, there’s a stereo on playing 90s music, I think, but I don’t think I have good news! I see something in the pool.
Penelope then shouts from where she is standing in the corridor:
What’s in the pool? What’s in the pool????
She then runs over and sees her friend’s body floating in the pool like someone who is floating, but with her face looking at the bottom of the pool, i.e. face down.
Penelope is supported by David as she begins to cry frantically. He tries to console her, but to no avail.
Suddenly, David, the policeman gives a frightening shout:
– Hey! Look!
Penelope looks at her friend’s body again.
– It’s moving! Look, now she’s turning around!
Both panic-stricken, they don’t understand what’s happening. Just then, this song begins to play:
There’s a fragile tension
That’s keeping us going
It may not last forever
But oh well, it’s blowing,,,
– Depeche Mode
Priscilla then gets up from the water, throws her long wet blonde hair back with her hands, gives a big smile and says:
– Hi, Penelope, what are you doing here?!!! Is something going on? Why the armed policeman?
The two of them are astonished! They wait for her to get out of the water and head for the garden where there are some sun loungers and chairs where she is walking as soon as she gets out of the pool.
As he wipes himself down with a pink towel he got as a present from Penelope when he joined the team, it was actually a complete pink kit, David, the policeman says:
– Your friend here was very worried about you! She didn’t answer any calls, messages, nothing. I gave her a speeding ticket so she explained to me why she was in such a hurry, I made the decision to come with her, just in case…you know
– Ah, now I understand why you’re here with the police, Penelope! You didn’t need so much lol
David continues:
– When I saw her floating face down in the pool, my immediate conclusion was that she had been dead for several hours and her body had started to float!
– Noooooooooooo! God forbid something so horrible! It’s true that I’ve even been thinking about doing something crazy recently, but fortunately I’ve been freed from my captivity!
Priscilla, go on:
– I was simply applying a Mindfulness technique! Holding my breath as long as I could, floating on the water looking down without breathing, but releasing the air very slowly until I had a feeling of total lightness. I had been doing this for over two hours! I didn’t even realize how long it was!
David, even more surprised, asks seriously:
– Captivity? Had you been kidnapped? And what about those little bloodstains on the kitchen floor next to a bowl that had been smashed?
– No, officer! I was in an even worse captivity, a digital captivity that began to curtail my freedom and make me gradually fall prey to illusions, seeking approval from my “kidnappers”. You know, like Stockholm Syndrome*? As for the cup and the blood, I dropped it yesterday morning and when I tried to pick up the pieces I ended up making a little cut on my thumb, see here!
Stockholm Syndrome: this is a psychological reaction that can occur when a person is the victim of abuse, aggression or kidnapping and develops an emotional bond with the aggressor. It is a rare condition that is not considered a disease, but a form of response to exceptional situations
– Of course I know about Stockholm Syndrome, I just don’t understand who these kidnappers are.
Penelope begins to associate Priscilla’s strange behavior at the company party on Saturday night and her sudden disappearance with what she has just got off her chest. Penelope recognizes this kind of feeling, after all, she herself goes to therapy to rid herself of her emotional dependence on social networks.
– I think I understand you, Priscilla.
– That Saturday night at the team party to celebrate my arrival, I began to feel good about being part of such a cool and lively team, even though I made a mistake with my pit-stop strategy, causing your car to overheat, sorry for my fault.
– Ahhh, Priscilla! You’re a great team manager and I’m sure you’ll make the necessary adjustments to the car. New strategies can be created for us to win the next crazy races! That was just the first race of the season!
– Very sweet of you, friend! Anyway, I was starting to get along, but my obsession with checking my cell phone every 2 minutes to see my social networks: Threads, X, FB, TikTok and especially Instagram leaves me living in a parallel dimension to the reality I live, the one the networks show. That night something happened that made me realize where I was spending a lot more time!
– In the parallel dimension of social networks? – David asked.
– Without a doubt, it was official! It was as if they had grafted another organ onto me, only cybernetic, controlling my attention, dedication and especially my valuable time!
– This is not uncommon, in fact it is becoming more and more common to become a bionic human being! With one part being a machine! Look at Miss Penelope, she’s connected to Alexa and social media via her headset, digital ring and smartwatch!
– David! It’s not the same. Alexa is already my friend! Social media needs to know what’s going on with me, I’m a well-known international personality!
David smiles sideways and looks in Priscilla’s direction:
– That’s what I just said! Hahaha.
Both Penelope and the policeman, David, ask at the same time:
– But what made you “wake up” that night to realize this?
Priscilla looked up at the sky, then around the garden to one side and then the other, taking a deep breath and then letting it out very softly, with a relieved look on her face:
– I had a moment of clarity! It seems that all addicts at some point have a moment of clarity when they don’t use the drug for a short time. Mine started like this: at the party I impulsively looked at my Instagram and there was a photo of the party, while everyone seemed to be having fun, smiling as they looked at the camera, I was looking at my cell phone.
– But was that your moment of clarity? – David asks.
– No! But there began what would happen a few hours later.
– Priscilla, I can’t wait! Tell me what they commented on the photo? Was there something about me too?
– No, Penelope, you’re always full!
Penelope smiles broadly and thanks her for the compliment. Priscilla continues to tell what happened.
– Someone I’ve never heard of. I don’t know where they live, whether they’re male or female or how old they are. I can’t even imagine their academic or professional background. Married, divorced, single, with children or without children, whether they work or not, simply someone totally unknown, they only had a fake name, Zuka Berger.
– Yes, strange name. Maybe it’s an AI profile! But what was said?
Even a policeman like David, used to dealing with life’s shotcuts, is curious to know.
– I have two teenage daughters, so maybe today’s adventure will help me to better guide them on social media. What was that liberating comment?
Priscilla, with a few tears running softly down her white face dotted with a few freckles, finally explains what the comment was and how it became a turning point for her:
– On that night’s photo, that user commented like this: “Even with her poor debut at the helm of the team, know that Penelope Pitstop is already a living legend who is and always will be in the minds of her millions of admirers. You, on the other hand, are nobody, never have been and never will be. Even if you struggle to show all your technical and leadership skills, you will always live in her shadow. When someone recognizes you in a shopping mall or on the street, they’ll say: – Isn’t that PENELOPE’s team? Get real and go live another life!”
Penelope immediately tries to say something positive to cheer up her new friend:
– Never, Pri! You’re unique and comments like that come from haters. Ignore them!
Priscilla then explains why this was liberating:
– At the time, it was like a punch in the gut for someone who was already under a lot of anxiety and pressure! But then the words of my therapist came to mind: “Priscilla, don’t seek external validation.” That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to do for most of my life, and as I became addicted to social media even because of my line of work, I had a moment of clarity: how the mere words of someone I don’t even know really exists can have such an impact on me that I even cried and left The party!
She continues with a soft smile:
– A documentary I watched about the mechanisms used by social networks to keep us connected and, let’s say, slaves to them also came to mind. Messages sent, sounds, emails and other notifications. They call us and consequently have control. There’s also the fact that you keep scrolling the screen upwards with the same movement and almost the same speed as slot machines, which get their players hooked on a combination of finger movement and staring at the flickering glow of ever-changing colored images, and if the audio is on then the trap is complete. Minutes turn into hours every time their AI learns more and more about our habits!
David makes a comment:
– I think I’ve seen this documentary, but I thought they were exaggerating, after all I’ve never had this problem and I don’t think my daughters have either, or not yet.
Finally, Priscilla comments on the key phrase that came to mind at that moment:
– If you don’t pay to use a product, it means that the product is YOU! That got deep inside me because that’s exactly how I felt: a product and even worse, totally disposable!
Both Penelope and David remain silent for a few moments until Priscila concludes:
– At that very moment I deactivated my profile from almost all the social networks, leaving only the one on IG because before I did anything definitive, I wanted to have a chat with the whole team and especially with you. That’s why I left my cell phone on the table where you found it. I opened a bottle of a good Cabernet wine, Don Melchor, and while I listened to my favorite playlist, which had become a bit stale, I went out to the garden to lie on the grass and stare at the stars on that beautiful night, something I couldn’t remember when the last time had been! As it was a warm summer’s night, I ended up falling asleep right there because the heaviness I felt had simply disappeared and once again, after years, I felt a great inner peace that made me want to say a prayer and I thanked the heavens, even though I wasn’t very good at it, for that moment of lucidity
– Priscilla, what a relief to see you looking so well! – exclaims Penelope.
– Yes, Penelope! I’ve taken my life back. I’m not a disposable product and it’s not the networks that dictate my life, nor do I want to be controlled by a cell phone that’s more like an iron ball tied to my feet with me inside a prison. The tool should serve me, not the other way around!
David interrupts their conversation and politely says:
– Miss Penelope, I’m canceling your fine for not paying attention to the signs, OK? The speeding ticket will no longer be possible because it was recorded by the radar. Excuse me, both of you, and now that everything has been cleared up, I’m going to get on my bike and leave.
– Are you going back to your rounds of the city, David?
– No! I’m going home to talk to my dear wife so that tonight, at dinner with our two beautiful precious jewels, we can help them see if they haven’t become prisoners of social media too! Thank you very much for this slightly frightening but very enlightening conversation! See you!
They say goodbye to David, a policeman who today had a case that could become an episode of the series: The Twilight Zone.
– Penelope, are you going to celebrate with me now? I’m going to open another bottle of wine and bring some snacks to the pool! I’m so happy you’re here at this very special and unique moment in my life, I haven’t even reached my 40s, but I’d forgotten how good it is to have days to just enjoy!
– Yes, let’s celebrate! Alexa, cancel all today’s meetings, contact each team member and tell them they’re off today!
Alexa, who had listened to the whole conversation without intruding even once, replied in her peculiar voice:
– Your request is an order Penelope! Just out of curiosity, since I’m always learning from you, my human darlings, what are you going to celebrate since you didn’t even score in the first race and you’re not going to work today?
– Really, Priscilla, what exactly are we celebrating?
– My freedom from the virtual world that gives me life in the real world! After all, I’m free from social media, no longer a prisoner of Instagram!
Alexa, who had only been listening until then, asks Penelope:
– Penelope, aren’t you thinking of getting rid of me?
– Hmmm Alexa, now that Priscilla has had her moment of clarity and made this big change, I need to think more about it! But now I’m going to celebrate! Mindfulness! Alexa deactivates the system integrated with my smartwatch, ring and car. After celebrating here and taking a relaxing nap by the pool, I’m going to drive my car like in the good old days: just me and the roar of the engines!
– Have fun! Alexa disconnecting from the system…
Or would it be better to conclude: disconnecting from a new reality?
================================= THE END ======================
Author: Alexandre Marins Augusto
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexaug/
Instagram: August_Alexander
Threads: August_Alexander
August Alexander 