I Forgot My Phone

This video really resonated with me.

It also reminded me a lot of my ” I Miss Landlines Post ” or the poem I posted back in April 2015 called Life on Pause.

With all this technology, sure we are making “progress”, but how do you define progress?  Is “progress” the ability to do more and more and more?  To answer emails while we are brushing our teeth? Multi-task while we are on a hike? Is doing multiple things at once (which our mobile phones let us do) “progress”? Is this the goal?

I recently went to a talk on time management and the whole talk was about how to do more. What about the idea of how to do less?

Like I said in my post about missing landlines last year, I think people decades or centuries ago had it a bit easier in this regard.  There was not so much external stimulation distracting them and pulling them from what they were doing or pulling them away from the moment they were in.  They could focus on working the fields or churning the butter, or what ever it was they were doing back then.

There was also more limited technology and no social media to update or keep up to date with.  Updating your Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, etc.. has become just another thing we need to do.  Monitoring all the social media is time consuming and just another thing to put on our mental must do lists.

What about just enjoying the moment of your kids getting their birthday cake or the first time they walk directly: by looking right in their eyes and smile and soaking it all in, rather than through the lenses of our mobile devices.  Or, going on that hike with your partner and enjoying the view, marvelling in the site and in how incredible you each are.

I am not necessarily saying to get rid of social media all together (although I did write a post in the past questing this possibility). I do think it is possible to have both: to have technology in our lives AND give ourselves the “space” to enjoy the moment we are in.

But how?

I don’t have all the answers, as I too am faced with this question.  I do know that it has helped me ALOT and I have felt more free by imposing some self made boundaries on myself.  Some sections of time are for technology and media and some sections of time are definitely not for that!

When I sit down at my desk (NOT on the bus, walking, or eating a meal), that is my time to do work (check emails, work on documents, etc.). Other times, are not for that purpose.  When I am eating lunch, I eat lunch.  When I am hanging out, I hang out and enjoy the people around me. It is not fool proof, but it is an aspiration of mine to try and focus on whatever I am doing in that particular moment.

I think it is possible to have technology in our lives AND give ourselves the “space” to enjoy the moment we are in. Make some space in your day for some “phone free” time.

It is liberating and WAY more fun!!  Try it, you won’t be disappointed!!!!!