Getting Zen Through Technology Avoidance

July 6th, 2007

TechnologyNow that summer is in full swing in San Francisco I’m finding articles about technology avoidance more appealing. The large light shining in the sky during the day time hours indicates that it’s summer (some seem unaware of this obvious, likely reason for a drop in Internet traffic).

But hey, you can stay nerdy if you like for the next three months and enjoy the warm weather. WiFi is becoming more available, the iPhone looks great outdoors, laptops are cheaper than ever before - so staying indoors to stay jacked into the net is less of an excuse. Is this part of the reason why people are strapping web cams to their heads in droves? So they can work on the tan while staying online in order to Twitter about it?

Meanwhile, I’ve continued my experiments with paper in hopes of limiting my technology intake. Once a week I do a “no technology toting” day. All I take to work is my wallet, keys and the pocket notebook. This means no laptop, no iPod, no cellphone. It’s a pretty nice feeling. I’ve been using these free days to walk along the Embarcadero, past the Ferry Building.

Of course, this leads to a different sort of technology avoidance: stepping out of the way of the ubiquitous rollerblader listening to their iPod.

The other day one of my coworkers asked where my usual laptop bag was. When I admitted I didn’t have it, he jokingly said I was “getting all Zen,” and pretty soon I’d be writing HTML with pencil and paper.

But it’s actually not so hard to “get Zen” because once I get to work, I’m in front of a computer. I’m not talking about eschewing technology for a long stretch of time - just a few hours here and there.

The truth is, there’s isn’t really much super important information on the net that justifies constant monitoring. That is the oddest surprise I get from my few hours of technology without. The world doesn’t end if I’m not watching, and truthfully, not too much ever happens that is directly relevant to my life.

I think I’ll work up to a whole day without technology this weekend. I’m sarcastically living on the edge - and I don’t mean EDGE.

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Viewing 3 Comments

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    I think you've hit on something that many of us relate to, finding that balance between plugged in and "real" life. I can sense when I'm hitting that frazzled state and need to take some time away from the e-world. Refreshing gmail for me is a sign that it's time for a break!

    And speaking of which, time for me to get outside and into the southern california sun...
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    And to think that I'm getting worried about "unplugging" for a few days when I go on vacation later in the month (and I'm not kidding -- I actually get this weird "suffocating" feeling when I realize I can't connect to the interwebs -- it's kinda ridiculous).

    Sometimes it's really hard to remember that we used to do most of our computing offline. I can barely stand to look at my computer when it isn't connected to the 'net these days.

    I need to take a page out of your playbook...
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    Hi Eric - yeah I also notice the pointlessness when I'm refreshing Techmeme or Google Reader to see if anything new has shown up :)

    Dave - I certainly had the same feeling before going to Japan (even took the lap top with me). The hotels had internet so I could check out stuff in the evening, so I don't know what I was so worried about.

    I'm still pretty Internet addicted, though... - perhaps the only option is a freaking camping trip...

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