Slow movement vs Paul Virilio's Dromology - the study of Speed

  Hello everyone! 

 I am Nidhi Jethava and I am student of MK Bhavnagar university. In this blog I am going to discuss about the slow movement and Paul Virilio's Dromology- the study of speed. 

What is Dromology ?

Dromos is an Ancient Greek noun for race or racetrack, which Virilio applied the activity of racing (Virilio 1977:47). It is with this meaning in mind that he coined the term 'dromology', which he defined as the "science (or logic) of speed“. Dromology is important when considering the structuring of society in relation to warfare and modern media. He noted that the speed at which something happens may change its essential nature, and that which moves with speed quickly comes to dominate that which is slower. 'Whoever controls the territory possesses it. Possession of territory is not primarily about laws and contracts, but first and foremost a matter of movement and circulation.'

What is slow movement ?

It is a cultural revolution against the notion that faster is always better. The Slow philosophy is not about doing everything at a snail's pace. It's about seeking to do everything at the right speed. Savoring the hours and minutes rather than just counting them. Doing everything as well as possible, instead of as fast as possible. It’s about quality over quantity in everything from work to food to parenting.

So this Dromology is connected with fast movement with context of speediness in the digital era while slow movement is reaction against this movement but when we get retired or free from everything that time this movement will work. If one wants to practice slow movement they have become totally unmatched or they might not walk with this world. 

Dromology is connected with fast movement and slow movement is a reaction against this fast movement. 

Some of the examples :-

TED-Talk on 'In Praise of Slowness' :-

In the initial portion Carl Honore talks about how we are going to realize the dangerousness of speed in life. According to Carl Honore “A world obsessed with speed, with doing everything faster, with cramming more and more into less and less time. Every moment of the day feels like a race against the clock.”   He asked two questions. The first was, how did we get so fast? And the second is, is it possible, or even desirable, to slow down? So we are afraid that we might not do work at the time so we are trying to do something faster. Now we are worried about these speeds and we  lie about what a lot of people now refer to as the "International Slow Movement."  Started in Italy, but has spread across the world, and now has 100,000 members in 50 countries. In every field slow moment is there, in sex, workplace, homework. So this slow movement is a reaction agin speed. 

Carl Honore mentioned the purpose of ‘Slow Movement’- “ the purpose of the Slow Movement, or its main goal, really, is to tackle that taboo, and to say that yes, sometimes slow is not the answer, that there is such a thing as "bad slow." You know, I got stuck on the M25, which is a ring road around London, recently, and spent three-and-a-half hours there. And I can tell you, that's really bad slow. But the new idea, the sort of revolutionary idea, of the Slow Movement, is that there is such a thing as "good slow," too. And good slow is, you know, taking the time to eat a meal with your family, with the TV switched off. Or taking the time to look at a problem from all angles in the office to make the best decision at work. Or even simply just taking the time to slow down and savor your life. “

At the end of the talk he talked about his own experience. Carl said that yet he has busy schedule but he used to spend some time with his son where he not used watch and any bothering things. So in brief it is a kind of benefit of ‘Slow Movement’. We are going very fast but we have to be more alert about each and everything and specially what happens around us. 

Thank You.