There is so much truth to this video that it's not even funny. Well... sort of funny. We as a society have more or less let this happen, and we continue to glorify and perpetuate it! (Not gonna lie, I'm just as guilty!) In this modern era of laptops, iPads, iPods, iPhones, cellphones, Blackberries, Wiis, PS3's, Xboxes, Kindles, Nooks, WiFi, Netflix......you name it, and we have to have it. No longer are the days when you can sit in peace and quiet and just enjoy a book. You have to be plugged in at all times in some way, shape, or form. Don't lie... Between all the computers, cellphones, MP3 players, video games, e-readers, and the like, we're more or less constantly connected at all times to something digital. And then, we have the gall to wonder why the average attention-span of people is steadily dropping like a stone?
We've come to expect everything instant. News can be found at the drop of a hat. You want entertainment? Just hit up Youtube, Hulu, or Netflix! No longer do you have to sift through record stores to find an album - chances are you can buy the MP3s instantly from Itunes. Entire book collections can be downloaded in seconds. We have forgotten about delayed gratification. (No, that is not meant to sound like something dirty.) We live in a now! now! now! culture. And as such, we are all constantly ovely hyperstimulated at all times. Our brains are quickly forgetting how to shut off.
We as humans weren't wired for this. In the thousands and thousands of years we've inhabited the earth, at no other point in history have we ever made as many technological leaps and bounds as we have and are right now currently and have in about the past 100 years. We're advancing MUCH faster than we can adapt and evolve. And our brains just weren't designed to move in this many directions at once ALL the time. This is why we're all so stressed, have sleep problems, emotional problems, feel overwhelmed no matter what we do, etc. And the way we're moving, it seems that it's only going to get worse.
Realistically, I don't think we can expect the world to make any monumental shift back to a simpler time (unless, y'know, there's any truth to be had in the 2012 theories.) Everything is so interconnected now that if you even TRY to unplug, there's always the interpersonal problems that now arise from doing so, be they with bosses, spouses, family, what have you. There's also the flipside of this coin in that if we do try to disconnect, even for a little while? Even if it's of our own choosing (but monumentally worse if it comes as a result of some unforeseen circumstance and outside force), it doesn't take very long of being disconnected, if not instantly, before we start feeling intense anxiety about things. General anxiety, anxiety about what we're missing out on, about if people are trying to get a hold of us and can't...the list goes on. I used to think it was just me, but evidently, this is becoming a more and more commonplace thing.
In my own experience, I assumed that it was just because I'd pigeon-holed myself into a corner from such a young age that I just don't know how to function without being connected all the time. I started using the internet when I was 9 years old...which means nothing to those of you who don't know me personally, so let me put it this way. I started using the internet back in 1994. (Yes. I am ANCIENT in internet years, y'all.) Having been supremely unpopular at school and stuck with the same group of kids year in, year out who seemed to hate the fact I merely existed, I never had the social experience that most children do at school. So naturally, it didn't take me long after discovering that *gasp* there's PEOPLE out there on the internet! ....Pepole who will TALK to me! ....People who will LISTEN to me with a fair degree of interest! This changed my life. Suddenly I was totally in, head over heels, finding chatrooms, message boards, instant messengers, you name it. Nothing dirty, and nothing shady. I stuck to music-based ones, which is where I can still be found, and even on some of those very same message boards that are still around this many years later. As such, I grew dependant on always having some sort of connection to these people since, these are my friends! I have to talk to my friends. And I just figured that since I never really knew anything different, this is why *I'M* always on the computer, but....
Now there's entire generations like myself. Probably some of them are from similar backgrounds as myself, but others are just a sign of the times. Everyone else does it, so why not? And when it becomes the social norm, it becomes impossible to just go without. You would be hard pressed to find somebody who doesn't have a phone of any sort, wouldn't you? Nowadays, it's getting to be the same way with the internet as well, and progressively, more and more of these virtual devices.
I'm not saying that this is a bad thing. There's a *ton* of good to be had by this! I have no regrets, but at the same time, there has to be some sort of a balance. I can't speak for anybody else, but I know that at a certain point, I hit a digital overload with all the devices just going constantly. I can only keep up with so much. So I took a step back and forced myself to start carving out little sections of time - even if only an hour or two at a time - to do something off-line, off the phone, not connected to anything digital. I do make an exception for the ipod, but only to play music in the background whilst doing whatever. If it weren't that, I'd just have a cd player or a record player going anyway, so I may as well just make it easy on myself. But I do things. I draw. I write - old school. Pen on paper. My best works refuse to come any other way unless if I write them on *paper*. I cross-stitch. I go for walks. I read - without an e-reader. I'm re-discovering the beauty that is going to the library, skimming through the rows and rows of books, and finding one all on my own, one that wasn't selected for me by Amazon Picks, one that wasn't emailed out in all the top seller lists - one that just looks good all by itself that I found on my own merit. It's little joys that get taken SO for granted that they're becoming completely forgotten. And I refuse to forget them. I may be unhip, I may be uncool, but I don't lose my sense of self for anything or anyone. I didn't realize they were starting to slip through the cracks, but as soon as I noticed, I took the initiative to fix it.
Are you doing anything to preserve your sense of self in today's increasingly digital world?
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