I remember when cell phones were called car phones and were slightly larger than a big brick. You were really rich and important if you had one, or at least people thought you were.
Today, cell phones are sleek, shiny, and a dime a dozen. You can’t walk (or drive) down the street without seeing someone attached to their cell phone. Once upon a time owning a cell phone meant status. Today, it doesn’t mean a thing. We need to stop acting like it does.
I am going to ask you to ask yourself some tough questions. (right now)
- Does a full inbox make you feel more valuable?
- Do multiple voicemail messages make you feel special?
- Does talking on your cell phone in public make you feel important?
Answering yes to any of the above questions does not make you rotten or unlovable. It makes you human. From time to time, we have all felt special because of attention we get from email, phone calls, blog comments, re-tweets or other non-human things. I’m not gonna lie, when I see my blog stats spike, my heart races a little.
When I started to write this post, I had planned on telling you that none of these things make you important, and ask you to stop thinking of them, but I knew that was an impossible request. Unless you throw your cell phone out the window, or toss your laptop in the ocean, email and phone messages will continue to be a part of your life. How important that part of your life is, is up to you.
Dan Goodwin, a great author and Creative Coach wrote the following comment on my latest mini-mission about unsubscribing from email:
“I think a connected issue here, which maybe people don’t always realise or admit, is that by going to your email and having 5 or 10 or 50 new messages waiting, it’s a pain and a distraction yes, but in some small way it does make you feel important, acknowledged, needed. Even if these are all automated emails, you can fool yourself into thinking that your attention is in great demand. This is based on the same principle as people (most of us!) who would rather be frantically busy because when we stop and make space, it’s actually kind of scary if you’re not used to it. We get addicted to being busy, being in demand.
Maybe for many, waking up and only having 3 emails, as opposed to 33, would at first feel like they just weren’t very important to anyone. Not saying this is a healthy outlook, but I think it’s probably more common than people might think. Certainly something I was confronted with at first when I had a major unsubscribe purge.
What are your thoughts on this, people subscribing to many newsletters because it helps them feel like they attention is precious and in demand, that they are wanted?”
Dan’s comment made me think about a few things.
- The quantity of email you have does not determine how busy, successful or important you are.
- It’s ok to hit delete or unsubscribe if the email you receive is not coming from a real person that is interested in you or your business.
- Stop focusing on how many emails, phone messages, text messages and tweets you have and direct your attention to what really makes you important.
You are important because:
- You made someone smile today.
- You chose to love instead of judge.
- You said a bedtime prayer with your child.
- You are perfectly flawed.
- You helped someone that was helpless.
- You left a legacy of love.
- You made soup for your family or just for you.
- You see the mosaic of life’s architecture.
- You took the blame because you knew the solution was more important.
- You have a plan without a plan.
- You didn’t care about being right.
- You asked for love.
- You made a decision based on fact instead of fear.
- You chose to love more deeply.
- You threw caution to the wind and followed your heart.
- You fed someone.
You contribute. You put something out there. You love. You give to the world. That is what makes you important. Restrain from using your cell phone while you are doing other things. (especially when driving please). While you are surfing the web, checking email or voicemail, you cannot give your full attention to anything else. You can’t give your best contribution when you do it half way. Let technology be secondary when determining your worth. I think you’ll find that when you open yourself up to a cell phone-less day, or a full on digital detox, you’ll be surprised to find how important you really are. What do you think? What makes you important?
Courtney,
This post is important. I think we’re lost. I had the privilege of visiting a local farming couple yesterday. I spent the day on their farm as they cared for their animals and interacted with their four children. Their home had no television. The children, even the teenagers, were smiling, engaged and respectful. They were so curious about their new visitors, they set the table together, built a fire in the fireplace of their spacious log home and we ate together. Even while we prepared dinner, one of the younger boys sat on a nearby chair absorbed not by his video gaming device but by his book. After dinner they all headed to the barns for chores, even the five year old. There was a totally refreshing kind of connecting and living experience going on that had nothing to do with TV, cell phones or surfing the net. Some would call them “backward” but we could all use a step back in time to when cell phones were bricks, email boxes were empty and families worked, laughed and ate together. Thank you for writing such a thoughtful post, Courtney. It really resonates with me.
Agreed Katie. Your comment actually makes me want to visit a farm immediately.
Dear Courtney,
A refreshing post- we are human beings not human doings so it is lovely to see a post remind us of that. It is the small kind gestures that matter the most-and I love the photo-that is what life is all about-being free, walking with nature, loving and respecting all.
Thanks Ntathu – Technology has it’s place but definitely not on the beach! 😉
I wholeheartedly agree, but also have become increasingly weary of the (omni)presence of technology in our lives. Not only is it becoming exceedingly more difficult to understand our state of being apart from the technology we so heavily utilize, but I see technology as quite literally becoming fundamentally part of our being as human. We relate to one another over computer screens, we connect with cell phones and social networking media, we can go to the grocery store and provide for ourselves without a single human interaction, etc.
The further our lives become inextricably linked to the technology we use, the more technology becomes normative to our essential existence as human. This, of course, means it becomes harder and harder to imagine (or even realize) being human without it.
I have to disagree, Russ.
With the exception of our physical bodies relying on technology (as some people are required to with pacemakers, prosthetics, etc.), technology will never be part of what makes us human.
All forms of technology are simply tools that extend our human capabilities (long-distance communication, transportation, etc.) but the thing that actually makes us human — our humanity — remains separate. Human elements like compassion, love, and creativity are not enhanced by technology, they are extended.
When we relate and connect with people over mediums like the Internet, the only thing that’s changing is the method, not the essence of what it means to connect and relate. That’s why when online friends meet in person for the first time, we often feel a connection that usually only comes with having spent real physical time together.
The connection hasn’t changed, only the means by which those connections are formed.
I can’t quibble with anything you’ve said, Raam. You’ve listed a number of the things that I, too, appreciate about technology. For instance, I love that I will be able to Skype with my wife tonight, who has travelled out of town for the weekend (on a plane, no less, that makes her trip time approximately two hours, whereas 100 years ago it would have taken approximately two months).
With my original comment I simply hoped to illumine the idea that technology is a major inhibitor of our humanity in the modern world because of its capacity to eliminate our need for human community. This, I believe, threatens our being as human. From banking ATMs to self-checkout options to on-line schooling, it is now more possible to live without needing to express compassion, love, or creativity within human community than ever before. As you evidenced with your experience this morning, simply removing your earbuds while out in the world and among others made you feel connected to the people around you and, therefore, more like a human being.
My apologies for not being more precise in what I said earlier. That is, for not better defining how I did not, in fact, mean that technology today comprises our being in the capacity of our flesh and blood (though it’s a little wearying when technology is postured in advertising as more proficient than our standard human capabilities, but rather that technology, though often a blessing, can be a real curse in its ability to cut human community off from itself, thus disallowing us from truly experiencing the extent of our own humanity in caring for, loving, and being responsible to our fellow men and women. It, like any other commodity that we utilize in our daily lives, should be handled with the utmost respect and responsibility.
Thank you for clarifying, Russ. 🙂
I agree that technology can be a major inhibitor to our humanity, but I also believe that boycotting technology isn’t the solution. Whether we like it or not, technology is here to stay and I feel that taking an elimination approach is the wrong way to go (perhaps even a selfish way to go, seeing as how technology offers so much potential to help those in need).
Instead, I think we need to embrace the potential technology offers and find ways to balance our use of technology with the nurturing of our humanity and our relationship to Mother Earth.
I think technology is the only hope the planet has for real peace — a world free of inequality where everyone has equal opportunities, equal access to knowledge, and a voice that can be heard by everyone. (Imagine an entire planet with access to the Internet and the knowledge of how to use it… suddenly a suppressed minority or a village affected by a natural disaster can make themselves heard — as a group — for the entire world to see and provide support.)
All the good things that technology has done for humanity over just the past hundred years (medical advancements, improved communication, access to knowledge, etc.) has created a momentum that, even if it temporarily causes harm, will be embraced by the majority of the populace.
I think the most we can do as individuals is to identify how technology is harming us and then work towards circumventing those negative effects by sharing those observations with others (as we’re doing now) and then focusing a great deal of our time and energy on mental and physical health (walking to the store instead of driving all the time, having a face-to-face conversation instead of watching TV, etc.) and rekindling our spiritual connection to the natural world.
I also feel that we need to be thinking long-term, looking past our own generation and towards generations that will be living here hundreds of years from now.
Thank you for the great, thought-provoking conversation!
Another good post, Courtney. Your last mini mission has been so great for me–every day I see less and less clutter in my email because of it.
I have a cell phone, but I don’t remember to keep it on that often, and I don’t give the number to too many people. After a road trip with my sister during which she drove & chatted on the phone with friends from her town (when I had flown down to TN to be with her), I swore I wouldn’t ever be that discourteous. It is so unsafe to drive and chat (or, heaven forfend, text), and simply rude when there is someone in the car. This is a pet peeve of mine.
I could use digital detox from Twitter and Pinterest, though, the two sites that I check during the day more than I ought. I think I’ll make a weekend day (Sunday?) no ‘net day!
As always, you inspire with such gentle encouragement. Thank you!
Beverly, I am happy to help and learning on the way right along with you.
I was walking to the cafe this morning when I received the pingback email telling me that you linked to my blog post (in “You have a plan without a plan”; thank you!). I don’t usually walk and read web pages as I’ve designated my walks sacred — I sit in front of a computer for large amounts of time during the day, so any chance to walk I try to stay disconnected. However, something was pulling me to your blog post.
I really relate with this topic because as someone who grew up with technology (I’m 28) and has worked his entire life in the technology field, but also loves nature and reconnecting with our inner selves, I find searching for that balance to be a never ending quest. Inwardly, it feels extremely frustrating that I cannot be connected and disconnected at the same time.
I think that the answer really can be found, as you suggest, in prioritizing our lives. Technology is important for communication, learning, and for some of us even making a living. However, it’s obviously not as important as real world connectivity, as connecting with our inner selves and nurturing real world bonds. We need to constantly remind ourselves that technology does not make us more human and it’s most certainly not more important than our humanity.
When I reached the cafe where I normally get my coffee, I was wearing ear buds and listening to music. Normally the line is long, people are rushed, and everybody just places their order and moves along to wait for it. Lots of people, myself included, usually don’t bother removing our ear buds and instead just turn down the music a bit.
Because I had read your email, I realized how negative a perception I was inciting. I removed my ear buds and placed my order.
Then something amazing happened. The girl behind the counter asked me what my name was. I had been going to this cafe for months and she never asked me my name. After I gave her my name, she introduced me to four of the other people who were also working at the cafe, all of whom knew me by face but not by name.
I suddenly felt so connected and so welcomed. I felt human.
Thank you for the incredible timing, Courtney, and for writing about such an important topic.
Raam, Your real-ness shines through in each of your posts and interactions online. I know when we meet one day, it will be like connecting with an old friend. Glad you made some new friends today.
I will admit that it has made me feel “important” in some way at times, like when those emails are orders coming through or payments in my email inbox. But overall, I don’t.
Like Raam, I make my living online, so technology is important. Perhaps like you, I am 41 and remember when my first “Car phone” came in a bag and the handset was attached by a coiled cable.
I have a Blackberry. I turned off the “smart” part of the service, so it only is used for phone and text messages. I don’t really use it for business, but it is my only phone. Almost all of it’s use is personal now.
When I am out hiking, fishing, kayaking or camping, I don’t want to be getting email notifications. I’m online enough.
Working for a computer company years ago and having a Nextel phone/radio when they first came out was enough to cure me of wanting to be tethered constantly. That Nextel chirp can still cause instant ulcer-like pain every time I hear it.
James good point – technology certainly has it’s place, especially in business but the age old problem of separating business and pleasure still remains.
I loved this post. The line about “technology making you feel important” is something I really need to reflect on. My job makes me want to disconnect when I get home so everyone who knows me knows that I hate my cell phone. But I have a problem with checking my email too frequently – I don’t feel important when I get emails but I do feel the need to check them all the time!
Christine, I think that is something most people struggle with. I think you will find thought, that if you reduce your email checks to 2-3 times a day, you will be more productive and be able to respond more thoughtfully instead of just reacting quickly to get a message out of your inbox.
Courtney, I battled the exact same feelings as my physical mail and email dwindled from unsubscribing from so many things. But, in the end, the feeling passed and was replaced by the sense of peace – less email to check, less junk mail to deal with. In the end, it was worth it, and yes, your inbox does not define you.
Dr. Laura
Laura, I know what you mean about the sense of peace. After a few simple changes, it really washes over you and inspires to keep moving to a more simple life.
Just what I needed to read today… You make some great points… I have come along way in unsubscribing from e-mail, newletters, junkmail, etc. and I have greatly reduced the amount of time I spend on e-mail. But I’m still the first to admit, I still get a bit of a rushwhen you get a message from someone you love, or about something that’s important to you.
Great read… and thanks for the link as well. Keep up the great work.
GP – Even though I see my husband everyday, I love when he sends me a sweet email!
This is a great post. One that I can really relate to. My fiancee and I actively reject technology. We have the internet, but prefer to call people rather than email. We also have cell phones that make only phone calls. No camera, no texting, no apps…the horror! No cable t.v. I’d rather spend the time at home talking or doing a hobby than watching drivel. For me, it was a conscious decision that stemmed from a desire to be more present. I didn’t like the constant distraction of a smart phone or smart t.v….the constant notifications of emails that could wait until morning, or a text from a friend that would frankly mean more to me if they picked up the phone and called to speak with me.
I guess we’re old fashioned…but for us it really highlights our priorities. I don’t care about having email, I don’t care about having 300 facebook friends, I don’t care about texting…I care about real human interaction.
I find that when I go to cafe’s, or stores, the majority of people are so locked up in their devices they miss ALL of the potentential LIVE human interaction around them. Sad!
Tiffany. How refreshing!
I think your article hits on an important point that a lot of people in our society have fallen victim too in one way or another, especially with the advent of smart phones. More and more in our lives we concentrate on the people whose lives we are impacting via email, instant message, blogs, text messages, rather than the ones standing right next to us.
Sometimes it is ok to disconnect.
Justin – It’s ok and it’s important to disconnect. I’m about to do just that…
Courtney, thanks for bringing up an important topic, and extending your previous mini-mission thoughts.
Like Raam says above, technology extends some of the feelings we have, and the elements that make us human, and part of being human is needing a certain amount of attention from other humans. Emails, Twitter messages, texts and so on, are another form of that.
So giving them up can feel like having less attention, even though it was not very genuine or deep level attention in the first place.
We’re easily flattered sometimes, and though I use the “firstname” personalisation field on many of my emails to readers so they start “Hey Courtney”, and know the mechanism behind it, I STILL feel a little bit more special when I get an email starting “Hey Dan” even though I know it’s a newsletter/email that’s going to thousands…
Looking on the positive side, I wonder if the instant, throwaway nature of texts and tweets mean that when we do write or receive a hand written letter or write someone a poem on a note for example, it becomes even more special, like a real and beautiful orchid in a sea of fake plastic ones?
The whole dilemma of the internet that so many of us are wrestling with is that yes it does give us potential for reaching and connecting with a lot of people that we couldn’t otherwise find, and we can financially support the rest of our lives if we have an online business, but very few of us are in a position where that business is so successful we can afford to spend only four hours a week working on it, to use Tim Ferriss’s book as a famous example.
I currently would love to spend more time disconnected and recent long weekends of being completely disconnected have been wonderful, but we need that level of popularity and success to do this more.
There’s this ground in the middle I think where many people dearly want to be more disconnected from the online and technological world, but are using that very same world to make a living, which is keeping them from a more natural life of yoga, walking, mountain climbing and so on. It’s a dilemma I continue to ponder!
A song line comes to mind – “I could try to be big in the eyes of the world / but matters to me is what I could be to just one girl” – Brian Wilson, I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times. It’s a similar dilemma to that I just spoke of, a similar balance to find.
Thanks for the mention and another thought provoking post. : )
Dan
Dan – Thanks for making me think about this. As soon as I read your initial comment, I knew my response would be a blog post in the making.
Makes me want to put my iPhone away. And I guess I’ll trying it on, should be worth it, I’m actually in the need of some non-tech stuff around me, I’m feeling sort of overwhelmed by it. Thanks!
Rodrigo, If you decide to go without your iPhone for a day or more, please let me know how it goes.
We don’t need TV, the internet, or mobile phones to define who we are.
Best to live from our hearts than be another statistic 🙂
Thanks for sharing Courtney!
Great article! Thank you for that reminder…we all need that from time to time! 🙂
Very important, and quite timely. While I feel I have great models of people I couldn’t think are more important and just truly lovely, having nothing to do with technology (so long as they can help it)–I still can get lost. Just starting the One Dress Protest blog has been overwhelming at points, particularly once I discovered an entire thriving community of people I was similar to and wanted to connect with. While this was in fact a want, and was more about my thinking that all of you were quite important, perhaps rather than myself, it did fill up far more time online than I had been. I am so thankful for good models as they largely influence my keeping my relationship with technology and the internet more healthy. But I certainly can easily stray, and fall victim to being just a little too excited when I see a retweet, or get comments on my blog. My husband (who is far less web entangled than I) is quite encouraging in reminding me that even within this new blog of mine, I don’t have to achieve or succeed or anything that relies on everyone else showing up for the party–I just have to do what I set out to do, work on me and hopefully create good dialogue for those around me and those interested in joining in. But my job is not to seduce or lure readers, followers, customers, etc., Rather, just to be true to myself and be present in a moment (whether it be replying to a comment on a blog, or having a face-to-face conversation with a most loved one). And I unquestionably remember the lasting satisfaction and fulfillment of the latter, above and beyond the former.
Thank you Courtney for speaking boldly about a rather private behavior pattern.
Kristy,
I have reduced the number of email subscriptions I have and try to limit my time on the internet when family is around, but this is where I am working earning my living. As I work to build my blog and my following, it feels good to know that someone is reading and responding, so I am like you in that I like to get comments, and a RT is heavenly! I have to remember to walk away from that at times, that although it is important to me, it is not the MOST important to me.
Great post Courtney!
Bernice
How does your faith affect your ability to cope?
Hi Courtney,
I do enjoy your posts and just so you know if i didnt i would delete you 🙂 In this land of blogging i have collected blog sites that appeared at first glance what i needed but within a few days, or weeks have found them not to be so and so they have gone. I have no qualms about deleting someone or something and my spam box is always bigger then my inbox and i just press delete because if your email is in there i didnt ask for it and i dont need it.
Last summer i told my daughter – the only 1 of 4 left at home and nearly 18 – that i was putting the tv away for a month and if she didnt miss it, it was going. She didnt notice it had gone and in the end i phoned my supplier and asked them to disconnect the tv as it was no longer required, it took them two months to get their heads round the fact that i was being serious and in the end they owed me money, which was very nice. Yesterday i recieved my yearly nursing registration forms which i need to pay for and send back and i said to my daughter i thought it was more then that, it was only a little later that i realised that i usually have to pay an annual licence fee for the tv which i no longer have to pay for. I dont even know how much it is this year but i think last year it was £147 ish.
I still have a mobile phone but didnt get one until i went back to work about 6 yrs ago and its not a gadget one. I have no idea why people would have updates from facebook directed to their phones. I do have an internet connection on it which i only connect where it free to use.
I also have a job that uses lots of technology and im a great fan of our new touch screen heart monitors, reminds me of star trek 🙂
Just a question how would you cope without technology?
I cancelled my TV licence a couple of months ago Bev, and only realised then that they always work six months in advance, so I got a refund of about £70. An unexpected bonus, but still annoying that my monthly payments were always paying for usage six months in advance!
Congratulations on going TV free. 🙂
I love that everyone is saving money without TV!
Bev – to answer your question, “How would you cope without technology?” The simple answer is… I have no idea. I rely on technology for so many things. I have a monthly infusion for Multiple Sclerosis (Thanks to technology). I have regular MRIs and other screenings because of MS and the medication I take (Thanks to technology). I use the GPS on my phone, do the majority of my work with an internet connection…I could go on and on here.
The point of this post is not to live without technology but not to let technology replace all of the amazing things that happen in your life without a plug or internet connection.
Exactly. When the weather is beautiful (which it is NOT right now, I am in GA!) on the weekend, I tell my husband “let’s disconnect and actually go LIVE!” So many people are living artificial lives online, especially in the gaming world, use technology to improve your lives, but then go LIVE IT!
Bernice
Fascinating to lay-in bed and read such inspiring thoughts and inspirations on my blackberry smart phone:) life is all about balance. Yoga teaches us and helps you reconnect, regain your inner sense of balance and inner peace. The more in tune you are with life the easier it becomes for us to be in harmony with technology-like Raam Das (sorry if name spelt incorrectly-too lazy to scroll up page to check but energy of words staid with me) said he intuitively knew to respond to a notification and by following his inner guidance received what he needed to hear and passed on that vibe to shop assistants. The world is big enough for nature and technology to co-exist same by side in harmony as long as our intentions for use is to better and uplift human kind. Life is a cycle-so if technology is used in destructive mode mother nature steps in and restores beauty, harmony. So its all good and all we can do is as suggested use technology to remind us of our inner goodness and spread the love.
What a wonderful post and blog site! We live very near the ocean and I enjoy occasionally working from the beach; of course technology allows me to do that. I am extremely grateful to have that option; working from a beach trumps a windowless office any day for me; that being said I do have to be disciplined in a different way not to get distracted, and technology hasn’t solved that one for me. However, days I am working from the comfort of a beach chair or a park bench I find myself feeling almost guilty when people walk by and give me a look that seems to say “get off the phone/laptop, you’re wasting this opportunity.” Therein lies my conundrum. I need modern technology to work but I am choosing more and more to slow down and disconnect at times. Both are necessary.
Gena, I think there is a big difference between using technology to work and using technology to distract yourself from the outside world. You may get the looks, but those people don’t live your life and so what they may think of you at that moment has no real relevance to your current situation.
It sounds like you get to work and soak in vitamin D at the same time and there is nothing wrong with that!
Technology is a great thing and a curse at the same time. It is frustrating because I think that a lot of spend a good deal of time trying to manage and figure out how to unplug more and limit our mindless electronics time. To me the time thinking and managing is all wasted time and it is a bit frustrating to think that I am actually spending time doing this rather than living. I have times where I have it under control and then times when I don’t. I have yet to fully crack the code on this but I’m confident we will get there.
Dan, I hear you. Let me know when you crack the code and save me the time. In the meantime, I’m grateful that we are aware of our actions and working to improve.
I am absolutely guilty of this. If I check my phone and there aren’t new emails, I feel like the world is forgetting about me.
I had to laugh about the cell phone part. I used to have one, but haven’t for the past 5 years. Don’t find the need to be connected 24/7. AND, with technology comes tinier and tinier phones. I don’t know how many times I’ve accidentally hung up on people while trying to talk and make dinner at the same time. I long for the phone the size of a brick again that you could hold in place with your chin when your hands are busy.
I like e-mail, but not quantity. That’s how I stay connected with my daughter who lives hundreds of miles away. A short note or two daily from her is uplifting. If my e-mail is jammed with lots of newsletters, etc, it’s annoying to have to sort through and delete unwanted ones. If that’s what makes a person feel important, they must be living a fairly pitiful life!!
Another moving post, thanks. I love your blog for it’s honesty…
I just happened across this blog through someone’s FB post. I’d love to subscribe except I’m trying to de-clutter my in-box, as you encourage readers to do. I actually found it rather hilarious that from one side of your mouth you’re encouraging unsubscribing to eclutter and then out the other side “Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to Be More with Less”
And therein lies the paradox, the dilemma of “what and how much”
“What and how much” is different for each person. I subscribe to some blogs but not to others. It just depends on if the material is adding value to my life or distracting me from living it. As a vegetarian, it would be silly for me to subscribe to a cooking blog with mostly meat based recipes, but because I enjoy simple living, subscribing to blogs with that topic makes sense.
Of course. You are so right. The paradox, the dilemma is that there are so MANY good things out there to subscribe to, not only blogs but inspirational, professional, family, faith, cooking, etc. etc. each of which has and could continue to add value to one’s life. But too many then become distracting. To push your example further .. subscribing to an abundance of vegetarian and/or simple living blogs would end up distracting you from living. Therein lies the dilemma.
I think we’re both making the same point, just coming at it from different perspectives.
Agreed! Thanks for your great feedback.
Thanks so much for this post. It’s super easy to get drawn into the new media frenzy, but taking time to realize what is truly important is oh-so-valuable. YOU are important. Regardless of your inbox size. Regardless of your Google Analytics. Technology is not God. It’s great that you contribute to a virtual world, but don’t forget to contribute to what is in your own backyard. Thanks so much for these much needed words. Keep up the great work!
I love this post It is so true, yet, we spend so much time reading useless emails, and subscribing to whatever that we just delete as soon as we receive. These are all time wasters…
We need to use our time on what is important…so I will just say
Thank you!!
I sometimes think i get it wrong, in fact i often do but occasionally i don’t. What am i on about? I’ve now been television free for a year, yep a whole year. After a year i no longer know what is showing and most of the time i don’t care. I do occasionally watch something on replay, usually when someone else has brought it to my attention and when i have the time. I watch one show then that’s it. No longer do i sit and vegetate for hours watching nothing.
I do have a mobile phone. It’s a little one my children would call old-fashioned but i don’t care it does what i need it to do, text a few people, phone even fewer people and take the odd emergency photograph when my camera is not at hand. It doesn’t tell me when i have emails or facebook status updates or even twitter (dont have twitter account dont want one) or my blog. It’s my emergency phone i share my number very carefully and never take private calls in the street unless its my children.
I do have a computer, i love my laptop and i wouldn’t be without it. As for emails if they are not from someone i know or information i’ve requested i select all and delete. What do i do with my comp besides blogs? Family History, i love it, i do it for my own family and for other people at their request. So technology is good as long as we don’t let it run our lives.
I just found this site today and have been reading all the great things on your site. On the topic of technology I have to admit that at this late date I still am without cell phone. I have a disability and am home bound and in a wheelchair so that’s probably the reason. It’s partially the cost and it’s partially because people are so dear to me I never want to divide my time between a real live person engaging in a real live interaction with an inanimate box phoning, texting or tweeting. I have a very dear friend who lives across the country and I email her so I’m not a total luddite and my wife has a cell phone for traveling emergencies but otherwise people in my life are more important to me.