Saturday, October 01, 2005

Fast Tracking

It has been a while since I have posted anything here and for the few who travel this way I apologise for disappearing with no forewarning. My wife and I decided to do an entertainment fast for ten days and that included blogging. At the end of it I don't know what scared me more, my food-like craving for a screen or the fact that I felt that the fast should end. Either one should be a red flag.
One of the things I took away from our time in China was the simple life I saw many people living. As I walked the streets at night I saw whole families out on the sidewalk just hanging with their community. It was partly because it was too freakin' hot to be in the shacks they were living in, but it was mostly because without all the clutter that fills our lives they found each other. I have seen numerous posts regarding the impersonal nature of our communication, even blogging, or maybe most especially blogging. There are communities out there who break out of their chairs and actually interact beyond the screens, but these seem to be the exceptions.
It boggles my mind to think of how alone we have become in a world so full of communications. How I can be so surrounded by people I can't touch. TV shows showing me people all over the world, some of them even claiming to be showing me reality. iPods, podcasts, headphones, wireless, waves of people singing and playing from a million miles away. Kind of interesting that this stuff is normally recorded in an isolation booth. Gives me a deep appreciation of the guitar toting minstrels who graced our living room over the years; thanks one and all. Blogs from bloggers who are so techno-terrified that we can't even share our real names for fear. For all our bold talk we really are scared inside, aren't we?
So how do I overcome this insane drive for entertainment and screens; the deadly desire to impose the life I live in my own head on others? It crossed my mind that if I do fully unplug that I will become a distraction for those who are still plugged in, and in this increasingly wired world, become even more alone. Hmmm
P.S. This was posted by Brad Koop (Hi there)

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