Are We Moving Too Fast?
At the time of this writing, it’s a lovely, cool late August evening in Michigan, and I’m sitting at the kitchen table with the patio door wide open, letting the breeze stream across the room. It’s a welcome respite from the stifling heat of the past few weeks, but I’m not complaining. There will soon be snow on the ground.
Somewhere outside I can hear a wind chime catch the wind as the cold front makes its way through my neighborhood. Hearing that familiar sound instantly transports me back to family vacations spent “on the farm” at my grandparent’s house in Pennsylvania.
Snuggled in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains, I spent many summers at that house, sitting on the front porch with a book or magazine, while my Grandma’s wind chime provided the same clumsy musical accompaniment that I hear as I type away at my laptop.
This wasn’t so long ago that personal computers and e-mail were nonexistent, but we definitely were not living in the technology-crazy world that we inhabit in 2010.
The Web wasn’t ubiquitous; smartphones and iPods were nowhere to be found.
As far as technology goes, those were simpler times. Aside from a faint longing for my Sega Genesis, my so-called “devices” did not call to me from home, yearning for me to cradle them in my hands, swipe the screen with my finger, or send out a tweet.
But in a few short years, we have become one with our technology. It is literally changing our brains. We can’t go five minutes without checking our e-mail or looking for new Facebook updates from our friends. Smartphones that basically function as computers-in-a-pocket are constantly winning our attention over our friends and family. (When was the last time you actually talked to your friend on the phone?)
While nobody can argue that technology has improved our lives in countless ways, the attention it craves from its users with its myriad apps and alerts has put us in a heightened state of anxiety, always on our toes for something else.
Maybe it’s the familiar comforting ding! of an e-mail landing in our inbox.
Maybe it’s the satisfaction you get when you gain another follower on Twitter.
Whatever it is, we’re always plugged in, moving and thinking as fast as our Internet connection will allow.
We need to slow down.
Take a vacation.
Read a book (a real one.)
Meet a friend for coffee.
Do something. Go out and interact with real flesh-and-blood humans, not the avatars that substitute for their presence.
But for God’s sake, forget about your technology for a few minutes.
Don’t worry – it will still be there when you get back.
