We are in a time when we have access to information and being available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. In the past, if we woke up in the middle of the night with burning questions we had only a few ways to find the answer…call somebody (but it’s late), get up and check our Encyclopedia Brittanica or go back to sleep and wait until the morning to head off to the library.
Now if the same thing happens, we can roll over in bed and Google the question from our iPhone or Blackberry. We get the answer to our burning question almost immediately and can then roll over and go back to sleep.
My thought for the week is around finding the balance between humanity and technology.
It all began with the Internet and the increasing frequency with which we feel the need to check to see if someone has sent us a message. So much so, that we see people sitting in restaurants, medical offices, airports, driving and at the movies frantically sneaking a peak at their various devices. It’s about time that being available 24/7/365 is added to things that are addictive in nature…right up there with television, drugs and alcohol.
I am fully aware of how beneficial rapid communication can be. I use it to connect with those of you reading this newsletter as well as with clients and friends, particularly useful for long-distance and overseas.
But I’m beginning to wonder: are we having better relationships with our devices than with people? I recently heard someone talking about all the cool “apps” for their phone and once they began to talk about it, they needed to show the “app” to someone else and proceeded to get energized, as though they had recently met someone knew. I know that new technology can be cool. What I would like to see become the new cool is sitting with someone and focusing on just one thing…them.
Sitting opposite someone, making eye contact and offering a compassionate smile holds great power and connection. It is fundamentally human. When we are present with other beings from a place of non-judgment, technology is the furthest thing from our minds.
We are human beings. Not human doings.
Let’s keep humans and technology in perspective. One cannot replace the other. Part of the unplugging process and stepping into our own pool of stillness means shutting down our devices a bit more frequently and doing less multi-tasking.
As one of my teachers, Judith Hanson Lasater says, “let’s become better at uni-tasking”. In the process we can balance both our connection to people and the use of cool technology.
Ahhhh…the practice of yoga…finding balance!
