The alarm clock rings. You simultaneously wipe the sleep from your eyes, yawn loudly, and perform an exaggerated stretch in all directions. Time to start your day.
As you flip through the files in your brain, you determine which day it is then conduct a mental inventory of your responsibilities and goals for the next 17 or so hours.
Ping. Ding. Buzz. Ping. Ding. Buzz. Ping. Ding. Buzz.
Before you even place your feet on the floor, the mobile phone, Apple Watch, and laptop come alive with alerts, messages, missed calls, and emails. From family, friends, and news to work, appointment reminders, and social media updates, you find yourself behind before you’ve even begun.
As you rise and try to shine, your mind is working to keep up with the demand – ping, ding, buzz, over and over. If you silence the device, you may gain some temporary peace and focus, yet fuel your anxiety level by subconsciously worrying that you’re missing something or not responding to something in a timely manner. Will someone else answer first? Will I appear disengaged if I’m not responsive 24/7? Can I wash, dress, and prepare for the day without my world falling apart?
My answer was once yes. Yes, you can and you should. Set boundaries. Don’t check your phone until you tend to the morning needs – and be sure you have identified what those are. For some, it’s family time, lunch prep, and school drop off. For others, it’s exercise or mediation, breakfast, and journaling. No matter what the discipline, don’t check your phone until your morning needs are completed.
But there are those who can’t do that, multi-tasking from dawn to dusk, and all through the night. They are digitally connected at all times, at any cost. They are obsessed, compulsive, and quite frankly, addicted. Come on, we all know them. We may even be them – those who are rarely present to those in the same room because they “must” digitally present. If they’re not digitally connected, they’re preoccupied with being digitally connected, as if they’re missing something.
Today, I questioned all of it. Even with boundaries, depending on your personality type, it may not be possible. Personal and professional lives are intertwined and reliant on technology. I found myself longing for the “old” days, a time when we weren’t tied to our devices or preoccupied by our digital presence.
What if we just stopped and went back to a time when we didn’t have a multitude of ways to stay connected?
Because in reality, how connected are we? Despite strategic and aggressive social sharing and emailing, how many people are actually paying attention? Actually reading or engaging? They scroll, peruse, yet few read and digest the info. They’re too busy trying to keep up or cuing on key words to run with – often insincerely responding.
Technology is a blessing in countless ways – yet a burden in many more.
I’m grateful for who and what it has brought into my life because without it, I may not have connected or reconnected with numerous family, friends, and strangers who have become friends from around the world – you all know who you are.
In parallel, I’m saddened by how many lose sight of those who are not digitally connected. Social media channels. Emails. Texts. What happened to a telephone call? A handwritten note or letter? A visit – despite COVID? On the flip side, I’m tired of media jokes about remote workers who seem to link remote work to a building or facility. I will set that record straight – some of us who work remotely work harder, smarter, and longer than those who show their faces in an office for political or social reasons. The superficiality of humanity will never cease to amaze me.
This goes for social media as well. I’ve been sitting next to those who digitally presented an image that couldn’t have been farther from the truth – none of what they posted was factual, or actual.
The more connected I am, the more disconnected I want to be.
The more my senior parents are forced online, from the pharmacy to paying their bills, the more disconnected I want to be.
A blessing and a burden – right?!
Tomorrow, I want to focus on the day – work, family, recreation – without my devices. Is that possible?
Say yes.
