Are we better off with the smart phone? Has it helped or hurt us? I, for one, can't imagine being without instant access. If I leave home without my phone, it is an anxious moment that requires a turn around. I can't help but wonder though, has ease of access to knowledge erroded true wisdom? Could looking someone full in the face and reading what is there become a lost art? Is there a toxic impact from never being truly alone with one's own thoughts, quiet and beyond any notifications? Even as we slumber, the ever-present phone sits on the nightstand to flash or buzz or tone, mostly commercially driven tweets or facebook updates or other forgettable nonsense. As your sleep cycle is lightened by the stimulus, you loose your deepest rest. None the less, we continue to charge up our electronic pets and stand by for news.
If you had an entirely non-electronic respite, would you feel refreshed? If not, perhaps anxious that the world has left you behind in the quiet? Can we truly listen to something sublte and still inside that is deeper than the collective of Google thought? I have seen many teens who have had their cell phones restricted by caring parents as a disciplinary measure. Several have literally become suicidal due to the removal of their phones. They cannot imagine how to relate with others or entertain themselves without texting and gaming 100% available to themat all hours.
I am grateful for my fabulous i-phone and wonderful i-pad. I can work, reach my clients and create, any place, any time. I can stay up with the lives of my family and friends, even working on the other side of the world through Facebook. Now I have to master Google + as well. Still, I wonder what my fellow electronic users miss. Has anyone pondered the effects of being wired in all the time on our brains, our bodies and even upon our very souls?
When I was young, I walked to school by myself without any way of communicating with anyone. I had to take care of myself. Alone with my own thoughts and perhaps alone with the thoughts of God, I could reflect without anxiety or interuption. The woods and weather were mine to explore without a filter. Interesting clouds, insects and stray dogs were the mental stimulus randomly provided from time to time. If I had a friend to come home with me, we mended hearts and solved issues of national security before we rounded the last corner. If I wanted to really understand something I read entire books.
When I am alone in a room with my lover or a friend, I gain something that the screen could never render: knowledge and understanding beyond the ability of a key stroke to convey. Seeing the value from my past experience of a non-digital reality and the strength that evolved from competence in that perhaps simplier and quieter world reassures me that if the grid goes down, totally down, I am totally OK. Our children, I fear, would not have a clue about what to do or how to alone like that.
Mariel Worthy
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