So last night, took friends and family out on the boat to watch the fireworks in the San Diego Bay. As the last glow of the final volley faded in the sky, I used my phone to illuminate the panel of the boat so that I could find the correct switch I needed to turn on a running light to get back to the marina with. I set my phone down by the window, which for some reason had popped open and then kerplunk. Yup – my phone with its very illuminated screen slowly disappeared into the depths!
So as I contemplated last night the amazing fact that the United States has made a major holiday, with fireworks shows across the nation, celebrating the concept of freedom – I also contemplated life with freedom from my phone. A weird feeling as I want to bed last night, I did not have an electronic device to find a charger for, nor did I have to worry about plugging anything in, or making sure the device set just perfectly on the wireless charging pad.
Yes, I was free last night. Free from the distraction of the phone. I had nothing better to do then to have a conversation with my wife, to have a restful sleep and then to wake up with – no phone. Yup, no distraction. I had to make the conscious decision to sit at a table in a cafe, boot up my laptop and type this blog among other things. Interesting, this morning my commitments that I wrote down felt more real then normal. Like, perhaps all that I had. When I dropped my connection to the world into the bottom of the San Diego Bay, I also seemed to drop my dependence on the constant feed.
So this is what life used to feel like in the 90s. I almost forgot. You wake up in the morning, stretch, relax, sit in a comfortable chair and read something perhaps, have a conversation, think about important things. .I am sitting across from a family all staring at their feeds. Yes, that is what the mobile phone has become, you constant feed from the world. In fact, we even subscribe to services that feed it to us in a nice and easy scroll format. After all, is not our chief and primary purpose nowadays to be consumers!? We are doing our job well, as we queue into the feed, we somehow or another find ourselves needing something and pretty soon an Amazon Prime package is arriving at your door.
I have a stack of those sitting in my foyer now. Unopened. I forget what they were for now. Seemed important at the time. That is what the feed wanted me to feel anyway. However, today I am free! Starting to wonder if I really do want to call Azurion device recovery or not. Maybe I will wait a few days?
Freedom. Perhaps I will spend the weekend free. Maybe life will feel less hectic, more rewarding, more full, and go by less fast. I will pay attention to what is going on around me for a change. I will be present in the moment.
I wonder what else I could free myself from? A thought for a future blog.
Guy Reams
