每日英語跟讀 Ep.839: No Cell Service. No Wi-Fi. Just Childhood 手機不通、沒無線網路的童年 不在社群媒體訊息轟炸下長大

Viral dance memes and dance challenges on TikTok largely bypass Green Bank, West Virginia. So do viral sensations like augmented reality filters on Snapchat and Instagram.

在美國西維吉尼亞州綠岸鎮，人們看不到短影音應用程式「抖音」大多數的網路爆紅舞步和改編舞步挑戰。這個地方的人也看不到擴增實境濾鏡等在社群軟體Snapchat和Instagram上爆紅的事物。

And when a Facebook fad had people all over the globe dumping ice water on their heads a few summers ago, Charity Warder, now a senior at Pocahontas County High School, was late to the game.

而在幾年前夏天，臉書掀起一陣風潮，使全球各地網友紛紛朝自己頭上傾倒冰塊和水時，目前已是波卡洪塔絲縣高中畢業班學生的查瑞蒂．沃爾德，很晚才加入這行列。

Sure, Charity has an iPhone, but she uses it mostly as a clock and a calculator. She makes phone calls from a landline, and she rarely texts her friends. Texting and driving? “It’s not a thing here,” she said.

查瑞蒂是有支iPhone，但她多半用來當鬧鐘和計算機。她只打固網電話，很少傳簡訊給朋友。邊傳簡訊邊開車？她說：「這裡沒這種事。」

When Charity wants to get online at home, she sits at her family’s desktop computer, which has a broadband connection that is so sluggish, it takes minutes to load a YouTube video.

查瑞蒂想在家上網時，就坐在全家共用的桌上型電腦前，電腦連接的寬頻網路非常慢，要花上好幾分鐘才能載入一支YouTube影片。

Welcome to Green Bank, population 143, where Wi-Fi is both unavailable and banned and where cellphone signals are nonexistent.

歡迎來到綠岸這個僅143人的小鎮，這裡既沒無線網路也不准使用，更沒有手機訊號。

The near radio silence is a requirement for those living close to the town’s most prominent and demanding resident, the Green Bank Observatory, home to the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope. To protect the sensitive equipment from interference, the federal government in 1958 established the National Radio Quiet Zone, a 13,000-square-mile area near the state’s border with Virginia.

綠岸天文台是鎮裡最出名且要求最多的「住戶」，世界最大的全可動射電望遠鏡即設置於此，而幾乎禁絕無線電則為其附近居民必須接受的要求。為了保護這裡的精密設備不受干擾，聯邦政府1958年將西維吉尼亞州靠近維吉尼亞州、約3萬4000平方公里的區域劃為「國家無線電寂靜特區」。

The observatory’s telescope “could detect your phone on Saturn in airplane mode,” states a sign outside its science center building, but is rendered much weaker if anyone uses electronics that emit radio waves. For those who live within 10 miles of the observatory, the limitations also include a ban on Bluetooth devices and microwaves, unless they are contained in a metal box, known as a Faraday cage, which blocks electromagnetic fields.

綠岸天文台科學中心大樓外的告示牌寫道，這個天文台的望遠鏡很敏銳，「即使手機開飛航模式放在土星上，望遠鏡都偵測得到」，不過若有人使用會發射無線電波的電子產品，望遠鏡偵測能力就會大為減弱。天文台方圓16公里內的居民甚至連藍牙裝置和微波爐都不准使用，除非把這些裝置放在名為「法拉第籠」的金屬籠裡，這種籠子能阻隔電磁場。

Nearly 15 million Americans live in sparsely populated communities where there is no broadband internet service at all, a stark digital divide across America between those with access to uber-fast connections and those with none.

近1500萬美國人住在全無寬頻網路的人煙稀少地帶，與美國各地得以使用超快網路的人形成強烈對比。

But in Green Bank, where the restrictions are mandatory, the quiet zone has in many ways created a time warp in the mountainous region. Phone booths loom near barns and stand guard on rural roads. Paper maps are still common. Here, people are less distracted by the technologies that have come to dominate 21st-century American life.

不過，在強制執行這些限制的綠岸，寂靜特區使這多山地帶在許多方面出現時間錯位現象。電話亭赫然出現在穀倉附近，並佇立在鄉間道路旁。紙本地圖仍盛行。這裡的人比較不會為主導21世紀美國人生活的科技而分心。

At a time when nearly 60% of American teens say they have been bullied or harassed online, and studies have found links between social media use and teen mental health problems, the digital limitations around Green Bank have created a unique kind of modern childhood, providing a glimpse into what it means to grow up without the constant buzz of texting and social media.

近六成美國青少年表示曾遭受網路霸凌和騷擾，而且研究顯示使用社群媒體和青少年出現心理健康問題有關，在這當口，綠岸對數位技術的限制創造出一種獨特的現代童年生活，讓人一窺不在簡訊和社群媒體持續的訊息轟炸下長大，會是什麼樣貌。

Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/352162/web/