Musings: Seeking the Primal Escape from Technology
August 1, 2016
Nature is the most primal escape from technology that we can seek out to realign ourselves with our very humanity. While nature has long been considered the great escape, the need to escape into nature is more pressing than ever as we are literally consumed by technology itself.
There are devices all around us. Those devices suck us in. They trap us, spellbound. Waiting. Patiently. For the Text, the PM, the Tweet, the News Feed update.
Those devices alert us to pay attention to them, now, not later; not unlike the Myna birds in Aldous Huxley’s Island, parroting “Here and Now Boys, Here and Now,” reminding every one to be in the moment. Being in the moment is a wonderful thing.
However, if being in the moment means we are constantly connected to digital communication via IPhones, Droids, Tablets, Laptops, Desktops, and every other Smart technology device that invades our lives unless we turn them on “mute,” then we have a problem. We are swiftly becoming a Universe of Devices. We’ve forgotten how to disconnect.
We can’t leave home with out our Smart Phone. Oh, wait, I need my tablet, too, some say. We leave our phones on next to the bed. We check in, in the middle of the night, the blue screen light disrupts our sleep and burrows into our psyche in the most subtle of ways. We are not really aware that that blue light is messing with our REM and our circadian clock, we are just checking in to make sure we don’t miss anything in the 24/7 always on world in which we live.
My regular forays into nature enforce in my heart and mind how very lost I would be without the ever present nature that is all around me. Nature is my primal escape from the everyday aspects of life that weigh us down particularly with our dependence on technology.
Recently, I spent five days in Eastport, Maine, as unconnected as feasibly possible. Eastport has no local cell phone tower, so all cell phone service is international. There is also no central WiFi in Eastport, Maine. I never touched a computer the entire five days and barely used my smartphone at all to connect with my social media. Un-connecting is necessary to maintain a healthy emotional balance, especially in this heated election season.
Take a break. Turn off. Tune out. Disconnect.
Get outside in nature.
Breathe in the fresh air.
Take a walk.
Re-connect to your self.
Be in the here and now.
