Why Do We Disconnect?
We all do it once in a while.
"I'm taking a vacay here" or "a long weekend there" and "I need to disconnect from tech" for a few days (or weeks). What is it that makes technology sometimes feel all-consuming, a slow soul-suck that wants to hang on like a giant lake leech?
It started with Facebook.
A game-changer that shifted society's way of communicating and connecting. A powerful engine of youth-driven tech bliss, which then seeped into the everyday lives of their parents and grandparents. What started as a "cool new way of learning about one another and re-connecting with past friends," turned into a massive engine of artifacts, fragments, political/social movement, rhetorical questions and un-prompted answers. A new single super-highway that evolved into a metropolis. What if you don't want to "live" in a metropolis? #suckstobeyou
Then came mobile apps and quick-firing fingertips that don't want to lose their mobile momentum. Like the invention of the microwave and the need for quick, cheap food (due to world war craziness), we have again as a society followed the wave of innovative bliss. "This is something we have NEVER experienced before. Let's check it out, yo!" There's nothing wrong with being a curious, ever-learning society with growth mindsets and such, but we do need to understand one thing:
Curiosity does not equal conviction.
We enjoy these toys that seem self-evident. But, not all tech is created with an equal objective. We must be aware of WHY we have this thing or that app. WHY was it created, and to whom is it relevant? Some of us still use microwaves to cook everything, but others choose to cook the majority of their food using an oven or stove top. Not because they don't believe the microwave is a useful technology, but that they like to cook with their own two hands and eat food that is more naturally grown. It doesn't make one person better than the other, but we all have a different version of what is RELEVANT in our lives. With a greater density of technology options, it becomes so much more important to answer the question: What do I really NEED to make my life more fulfilling?
I go in phases myself. Sometimes, I truly want to create things. I am an ARTIST, after all, and often get the urge to compose music, write poetry or blog! Sometimes this requires paper and more often a laptop/iPad/iPhone. Frankly, a lot of technology out there makes it more efficient to create art. Plain and simple. I can put a digital music arrangement together on my laptop much quicker than recording each part live into an 8-track or whatevs. I can convey my own thoughts so much faster by typing rather than writing on paper. However, I still have moments where I truly want to journal and/or draw in an actual journal on nice paper with a nice pen. Because I was not put on this earth to use technology. I was put here to be me, whatever that means.
Let's get back to the original question: why do we disconnect (from technology)?
We disconnect from technology (and other things, frankly) to create a balance between your own drive and the motivations of innovation. As humans, we need to be self-paced. We need to control how we see the world and at what speed. Sometimes this means really diving into something new, that really intrigues us and fits into our "speed" at the time. Other times, we need to lay back, go back to first gear, ignore the microwave and re-connect with the analog properties of the everyday world. It's pretty beautiful, actually. Beautiful that we have that choice.
Don't feel ashamed if you have to touch the "disconnect dial" once in a while. We are blood-pumping, breathing human machines that need some analog TLC on the occasion that our innovation-brain needs a vacation. #longsentence #importantsentence
Why do YOU disconnect? Comments below. #hollaatyogirl