Man released from prison after 44 years is amazed at modern technology

YouTube/Al Jazeera English

Now, after 44 years in prison, the 69-year-old is back among society. And he's fascinated by the way we've changed technology and how technology has changed us.

"I got off at Times Square and I was looking at the atmosphere, the new things that was happening," Johnson said in an Al Jazeera video feature.

"I see that the majority of people were talking to themselves. Then I looked closely and they seemed to have things in their ears. I don't know the things, the phone things… iPhones they call them, or something like that. And I thought in my mind, what, everybody became CIA or agents or some stuff like that? Because that's the only thing I could think of, someone walking around with wires in their ears... that's what they had when I was out during the 60s and 70s."

Johnson makes particular note of how people walking down the street in Times Square weren't even looking where they were going.

"I'm trying to figure out how people do that: control themselves to walk and talk on the phone without even looking where they're going," he said. "That was amazing to me."

Al Jazeera's video feature on Johnson is excellent and absolutely worth your time. Check it out below.

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