Technology is a wonderful, beautiful and very useful element of our everyday lives. It is also completely consuming and addictive. Up until a year ago I defiantly held out on buying a smart phone. My husband and I were actually proud to still have "dumb phones." We felt empowered to simply enjoy the moment we were in and to abstain from having to take a picture of even the most mundane dinners. We didn't understand the world of hashtags and we reveled in the freedom that we experienced from our jobs. I often thought, "No, I will not be checking my email every five minutes when I am away from the office, thank you very much." We may have even been a little (or in my case, very) judgmental of the people playing Candy Crush at the dinner table or texting while with friends.
Then we came over to the dark side. I will admit that we do use our smart phones quite often and we are much more connected. Even against my better judgment, I gave in and downloaded a couple games. I now take many more pictures and I almost feel pressured to capture the moment perfectly and summarize it eloquently on Instagram. We are by no means in the "needs an intervention" realm of technology addiction, but we are reliant on our phones, laptops and tablets. Technology does help me stay connected and even helps me manage my business. But these conveniences are also extremely consuming. At some point these tools enable us to ostracize ourselves from being in the moment and enjoying face to face interaction. There are many posts online about this being a problem, and I must say I agree with most of the arguments. So while I am thankful for the ability to quickly search local restaurants and to FaceTime with my loved ones all around the world, I will try to stay balanced and to fully unplug from time to time.
All of this to simply say that next week there will be no blog post or social media posts from Rough Draft Solutions. We are checking out and heading up to Northern Minnesota to see my entire family. We won't have any cell phone service or internet service and I cannot wait. I am going to focus on hanging out with my nieces and nephews, exploring nature and having some quality conversations with people I don't see often enough.
I will leave you with a few posts from around the web that shed light on our technology addiction. What is your take on the matter? Are you addicted? Does this age of technology frustrate you?
A millennial's confession of her technology addiction...
"Look Up" by Gary Turk - A video everyone should watch.
Have a great week and remember to forget your phone once in awhile. You will be just fine. ;)
Photo Credit: Alejandro Escamilla
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