This week's word is Disconnected:
I was, and still am, an addict. I check my email upwards of seventy times a day, answer a nauseating number of phone calls, mindlessly troll the internet for news updates and am (regrettably) a member of a certain online social network. As I often feel (in order to justify my insanity), I have my finger on the pulse of everything (and nothing). I use to think (and sure I will again tomorrow when my jet lag fades) that the barrage of information made me happy, when in reality, nonstop “feeds”, like anything else, is an absurd excuse for true human interaction. In fact, I find myself being so little to so many that I have nothing left for the things and people I truly care about. This past two weeks I was abroad without any meaningful contact with the outside world, and while I had my moments of panic—what if (I am needed at work)(someone is injured)(the world in caving in around us)—I found that silence, and the free time I gained from not “checking in”, afforded me time I did not know (or refused to acknowledge) I was missing and allowed me to decompress, something I have not done in years. The long and the short of it is, I think we should all be disconnected from the existence we have created for ourselves, and go back to the days when we actually talked with people in person, got our news once a day from the paper, and never worried about what we could be missing simply by living a normal, non-roped life.
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10 comments:
i absolutely agree! i have a post similar to this :)
being disconnected isn't always a bad thing. i guess moderation is the best way to go, but it's so difficult. i find i waste so much time on here when i could be playing with my kids, cleaning my house, a million things that are more worth my time. hopefully you'll be able to disconnect more often. and do things more worth while.:)
Good post - I think I'm still trying to find a 'normal' life. :) Disconnecting every now and then works fine for me...at least it does at this moment.
like my work, i think people never know if what you are writing is thinly covered non fiction or pure fiction.
either way, it's always well written, allowing the reader to slip into the world you create, and believe it does exist.
i, too, am part of a social network i'm embarrassed to admit i'm part of...
i am not all that connected.. i rarely use the phone,, but would freak without my computer!!!!!
Very important message. Although I don't think it's wholly a modern phenom. The saying "stop and smell the roses" is as old as the hills. And says much of what you have stated. I think sometimes it's helpful to fast forward our imaginations and put ourselves in our parents or grandparents situations when they are old. How would you measure the important things IN your life, not so much of your life. If you know what I mean?
i thin k i share your addiction!
http://whenhekissesher.wordpress.com/2009/05/16/disconnected/
If you blog, you are an addict to the net. I find the connection with the world a joyous thing. However, you make a great point. Every once in a while I turn the computer off for a week or two and just write with pencil and notebook and then I hurry like hell to re-connect again for a blog fix.
Ho- well said!
I like getting my news from the wind and the trees.
That was a bitter pill but one i needed to swallow..
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