In today's world of always on and always available distractions, wants are far too often confused with needs. To prevent one's brain from becoming overly dependent on pervasive connectivity, have a "Pioneer Day." A Pioneer Day is a day without anything invented after 1890. Turn off the cell phone. Unplug the computers. Flick off the lights. If it's between 50 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit, turn off the HVAC and open the windows.
With the myriad of intrusions abated, one can begin to appreciate the truly important things. Conversation is one of the first things one will notice. Without the arbitrary 160 character limit imposed by SMS text messages or the 140 character limitation of Twitter®, conversations now take on a meandering voyage instead of the staccato machine gun "instant message" version.
Now being dependant on the desk lamp in the sky, we find ourselves synchronized with the pulse of the world. A metabolically reasonable bedtime takes us to slumber in the evening. Our bodies call us to wake when the rest cycle is complete.
Thoughts, once fleeting, are now given opportunity to take root and blossom. Boredom once filled with purely passive activities now requires engaging activities. The purely tactile joy of turning a page in a well loved book should fill the boredom of even the most tech crazed neophyte.
The technology that allows us to contact any distant relation at any time has robbed us of the appreciation of the relations within arm's reach.
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Yeah.
ReplyDeleteBefore I got too beat-up, I used to go get lost in the woods for 3-5 days. Me, and whatever I could fit in my pockets.
Why? Gave me a chance to reset, re-evaluate, and re-prioritize.
It's not like the trip was a problem - nothing but a mild workout to our caveman ancestors (and it gave me a chance to reinforce some very useful skills.)
It's not practical anymore, but I do look fondly back on those excursions, once or twice a year, as quite relieving.
(No, I don't mean "camping trips." I mean someone drops me off on the side of the highway with instructions to return at, say, sunset three days in a row, until I'm picked up. If I don't show the third day, call SAR. But, I never even needed the second.)