Two weeks ago I was on vacation from the day job. It’s the dead of winter, and we didn’t go anywhere, I just stayed home with the family and recharged the batteries. I generally work 48-56 hours in a four day work week, and life can become a grind of trudging through the work week, trying to recover on my days off, and pretty much missing out on everything around me because I am in such a daze from my schedule.
I had a fantastic vacation and I enjoyed every single moment I had with the wife and kids, and resolved not to let myself become a zombie to my schedule if I could help it.
One day on vacation it dawned on me one afternoon that my wife sitting next to me in the living room was on my Xbox 360 playing the latest Viva Pinata game. I was sitting next to her using the laptop. My three year old was in the next room on my Mac playing flash games on the Cartoon Network website, and my oldest was upstairs in his room playing the latest Call of Duty on Xbox live.
All four of us were plugged in.
The fact of the matter is that all of us, to varying degrees, are plugged in.
Don’t get me wrong. Information and media junkie that I am, I have no intention of moving to a pastoral lifestyle with an oil lamp and outdoor plumbing. However, I do think it’s easy to become too connected, and miss the world around you because you are so spliced into the electronic version of life. Time in the electronic world moves at a different pace than time in the analog world, and if you’re not careful you just might miss out on your life.
Here is a short list of some of the things you can do to slow time down and become more connected to the analog world:
- Read Yeah I know, losing yourself to a book is no more participating in your life than being plugged into the matrix. Wrong. There is something about reading that you can’t get from any electronic medium. Reading is like sunlight, or vitamins, for your brain. I’m not saying that if you’re an idiot that reading a book is magically going to make you not an idiot. If you do have a good mind, reading is like gymnastics for it. You just may find yourself using your mind in ways you had forgotten about. Just take it out and exercise it.
Reading is crucial. I always have a paper book in progress, and because I have a long commute, I listen to another on audiobook in the car. - Go outside Believe it or not, we are blessed to live on an incredibly beautiful planet. Forests, deserts, mountains, oceans, snowy landscapes. It’d be a shame to only ever see these things on television. Go out and let your eyes take in some of it. You just might get some fresh air or meet someone in the process.
Better yet, take some exercise while you’re at it. Strap on some inline skates, ride a bike, go for a jog or a walk. Take your kids or your dog with you. Your brain needs reading and your body needs movement. It’s amazing how a well used mind and body affect your whole outlook and makes you much more likely to participate in your life. - Interface with people Whatever it is you thought was so important can wait. Call your child in sick to school, load everyone up in the car and go do something as a family. Go to an Indian buffet. Then hit the zoo. Or go to the children’s museum. Or the beach.
Go on a date with your spouse so the two of you can remember why you thought this was such a good idea in the first place.
In lieu of having an immediate family of your own, go spend time with your friends.
In lieu of having friends, go somewhere where people are. Being around people leads to making friends, which leads to falling in love, which leads to having a family, which leads to changing poopy diapers, which leads to waking up at 5:30 am on Christmas morning.
In other words, regardless how social you are or aren’t, being around people leads to all the things that really matter. - Listen to music Preferably, go to live performances of music. This is good for your mind and your heart. Throw as much money as you can justify at hi-fi equipment and listen to music while you work at home, whether it’s browsing the internet or housecleaning. Music stirs creativity.
- Create something I don’t care what your creative outlet is, just indulge it. Write and play music, draw or paint, build something, write, blog, it doesn’t matter. Spending time doing something creative is the source of much of the passion you have for life. Create something and you’ll be excited about everything else as well.
Life is so different today than when I was young. Think about it, when is the last time you wrote a letter and stuck it in the mail? The information age has made the world a much smaller place in some regards, but it’s also made it immeasurably larger in others. Access to information is a Good Thing. Just remember that the modern world has introduced some pitfalls that are just as contrary to your life as drug and alcohol addiction are. We are finished when electronic entertainment is able to create experiences that fool the mind into thinking they’re real. That, my friends, may mark the beginning of the end for our species.
Until then, enjoyed your Connected Life. Just don’t forget to participate in the physical world, or your real life will pass you by.
