Do you have free time?
Many of the world’s great inventions were created with the intention of saving us time. Cars get us to our destinations faster than a horse and buggy. Email messages are received faster than snail mail.
But what do humans do with more time? They fill it up with more activities—more work, more events—more demands on their time. Air travel made it possible to cross vast distances in a short period of time. Now, we work on our way to the airport, in the airport, and on the plane. Although we can work globally, we have less time, not more.
Few of us leverage modern invention to establish more quality time with our loved ones and ourselves. Few spend more time in contemplation and reflection, or wandering and incubating ideas.
In fact, most people experience less free time and more demands each year. Instead of just checking our emails and voicemails like we did only a few years back, now we check our daily texts, social networks, RSS feeds, IMs, and a host of other technologies that are supposed to improve our lives in some way.
I’m not suggesting that these technologies are “bad.” In fact, as BJ Bueno noted in Why We Talk, the social media phenomenon serves our biological drive to communicate.
I am suggesting, however, that left unchecked, the human mind coupled with technologies will keep you busier and more restless. Each new technology and communication medium will likely increase your neurotic tendencies and throw you further off balance. (If you don’t believe me, try completely unplugging from the world for a few days and report back on how you do.)
We’ll become more and more off-centered until we learn to tame our minds, to be able to nurture healthy perspectives, and simplify and/or scale back when appropriate. We must take great care as we move further into the digital age where entertainment and communication dominate our lives.
What can we do? Here are a few things I’ve found to be helpful:
- Become the watcher—notice the inner drive to continually stay active and to get ahead. (Do nothing about it; just watch and notice it. Awareness alone has therapeutic value.)
- Learn to unplug periodically. Go offline for a few days and enjoy life without technology.
- Allow yourself to just be; allow the world to be as it is too. Don’t fight or resist the fast pace of change. Just allow it to unfold as it will.
- Learn how to master the creation of time blocks. Craving out time blocks help you shut out distractions and focus on what’s important to you.
Happy Journeys!
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lol…"Each new technology and communication medium will likely increase your neurotic tendencies and throw you further off balance. (If you don’t believe me, try completely unplugging from the world for a few days and report back on how you do.)"
I concur.