March 17, 2008
the internet
I found mememolly’s video (à la Lev Yilmaz, incidentally) the other day about the relationship many people (read: me) cultivate with the internet–that teeter-totter between meatspace and the digital world. Then, not an hour later, I run into this tasty, little, Lenten article:
On my first weekend last fall, I eagerly shut it all down on Friday night, then went to bed to read. (I chose Saturday because my rules include no television, and I had to watch the Giants on Sunday). I woke up nervous, eager for my laptop. That forbidden, I reached for the phone. No, not that either. Send a text message? No. I quickly realized that I was feeling the same way I do when the electricity goes out and, finding one appliance nonfunctional, I go immediately to the next. I was jumpy, twitchy, uneven.
I managed. I read the whole paper, without hyperlinks. I tried to let myself do nothing, which led to a long, MP3-free walk, a nap and some more reading, an actual novel. I drank herb tea (caffeine was not helpful) and stared out the window. I tried to allow myself to be less purposeful, not to care what was piling up in my personal cyberspace, and not to think about how busy I was going to be the next morning. I cooked, then went to bed, and read some more.
Methinks the gods are trying to tell me something.
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A dear friend of mine, who earns the bulk of his living designing web sites and doing digital video editing, takes a sabbatical from the machines on those rare occasions when it’s possible. He says that it’s a good thing for him.