Every nanosecond filled...
I was reading this article in Wired, which talks about the "Parkinson's Law" effect of music and how Ipods and the like are filling all of our downtime with sound. To a certain extent I agree, and I've been hearing thoughts like this from many different directions and about several different things; including but not limited to cell phones, pop-up ads, and portable DVD players.
Now, anybody who knows me knows that I'm a technology nut. I like gadgets, I like weird little electronic thingys that make my life easier/interesting/more fun etc. I like my widgets and my cell phone and my MiniDisc player and my Palm Zire and my graphic tablet; I keep a LiveJournal (obviously, and really two, sort of) and know HTML and want to learn JavaScript and Python and recently started a Flickr account and have set up and helped run message boards for, now, three different reasons; and there have been times when I lived, slept, ate, breathed, and flipping existed in the internet or a specific game or (heaven help me) the insanely complex world of fanfiction for weeks at a time. I like technology and I like what it can do for us and I think it's a good thing.
Which isn't to say that each person doesn't need personal limits. I was uncomfortable with the idea of a cell phone until I got used to having one and learned the concept of simply turning it off or not answering. I used to say I'd never keep a LJ because I didn't see the point, my diary is on my hard drive and encrypted, thank you very much; until I realized its use as a mass email and handy place to store information and share quizzes with people and I was able to set limits on it and not let it control my life.
I've started to realize (and this sounds like a non sequitur but stay with me, people) that I'm taking a lot longer to each lunch than most of the people around me, at least on days when I have more than half an hour to eat. Not because I'm talking a lot and not even because I'm particularly enjoying the food. Rather because I'm taking my time, enjoying the smell of my cappuccino and its warmth, listening to the hum or roar of conversation around me as a whole in the room, etc. I'm taking downtime, which has always been important to me and something I cherish, but it seems I've learned to do it in the middle of a crowd without realizing it, and how cool is that. You may also have noticed that in the music tag of my LJ entries recently I've been posting a lot without music, or with just NPR playing; that's for similar reasons.
I'm not saying that I'm going to give up any of these gadgets in my life, because as I said I like them all and they do have purpose and use. However, I think I'm going to be a bit more intentional about how I go about using them and why I go about using them. I will listen to music because I like music, thanks, not because I can through Winamp or my MD player. I will keep up with my friends on LJ because I like my friends (or enjoy the topics of my RSS feeds) and not because I've taken some sort of electronic obligation upon myself. Because that's what it is really about.
Now, anybody who knows me knows that I'm a technology nut. I like gadgets, I like weird little electronic thingys that make my life easier/interesting/more fun etc. I like my widgets and my cell phone and my MiniDisc player and my Palm Zire and my graphic tablet; I keep a LiveJournal (obviously, and really two, sort of) and know HTML and want to learn JavaScript and Python and recently started a Flickr account and have set up and helped run message boards for, now, three different reasons; and there have been times when I lived, slept, ate, breathed, and flipping existed in the internet or a specific game or (heaven help me) the insanely complex world of fanfiction for weeks at a time. I like technology and I like what it can do for us and I think it's a good thing.
Which isn't to say that each person doesn't need personal limits. I was uncomfortable with the idea of a cell phone until I got used to having one and learned the concept of simply turning it off or not answering. I used to say I'd never keep a LJ because I didn't see the point, my diary is on my hard drive and encrypted, thank you very much; until I realized its use as a mass email and handy place to store information and share quizzes with people and I was able to set limits on it and not let it control my life.
I've started to realize (and this sounds like a non sequitur but stay with me, people) that I'm taking a lot longer to each lunch than most of the people around me, at least on days when I have more than half an hour to eat. Not because I'm talking a lot and not even because I'm particularly enjoying the food. Rather because I'm taking my time, enjoying the smell of my cappuccino and its warmth, listening to the hum or roar of conversation around me as a whole in the room, etc. I'm taking downtime, which has always been important to me and something I cherish, but it seems I've learned to do it in the middle of a crowd without realizing it, and how cool is that. You may also have noticed that in the music tag of my LJ entries recently I've been posting a lot without music, or with just NPR playing; that's for similar reasons.
I'm not saying that I'm going to give up any of these gadgets in my life, because as I said I like them all and they do have purpose and use. However, I think I'm going to be a bit more intentional about how I go about using them and why I go about using them. I will listen to music because I like music, thanks, not because I can through Winamp or my MD player. I will keep up with my friends on LJ because I like my friends (or enjoy the topics of my RSS feeds) and not because I've taken some sort of electronic obligation upon myself. Because that's what it is really about.