delara + technology = ???
I am having technical difficulties of the third kind. Although I am not clear on what the first two kinds are, I am pretty sure this is the third kind.
You see, we have really slooooooow DSL at the house. How can DSL be slow, you ask? When you live in the country and are at the end of the line. That's how. And, quite honestly, I don't have the patience to wait for 3 minutes for a photo to upload to Flickr (which is how long each one takes, even with a reduced size), or for the long wait time for my Google Reader to load my feeds, or for any kind of streaming media to buffer. Did I mention our connection is slow? Yes. Well, it is.
So, that's the first dimension to my technical difficulties. Thank goodness there is free wi-fi (and awesome air conditioning) at the library in town. I tend to reserve any serious Interweb work for the couple of hours a day I go to the library. But because it's the library, I get distracted. So many books! So little time! And they have a great selection of periodicals. Yeah. Sigh.
Then, I am having some minor to major pain (depending on the day) in my piriformis muscle. Regularly. And I am following a well-rounded course of treatment that largely includes NOT SITTING DOWN FOR MORE THAN 10 MINUTES AT A TIME because that's about how long I can sit without any pain. Unless I'm sitting on a wooden chair or hard surface, like at the library -- then I can sit for up to an hour. Wow.
So, I tend to stand a lot, walk a lot, work outside a lot, bike a lot (which doesn't hurt), help clean and work in the garden, and do yoga. The upside? Obviously, I am getting some much-needed fitness and movement. And believe me when I say that it is much-needed! The downside? I am hardly ever at my computer, as most of my friends are. It's challenging to stand and type, let me tell you.
All of that contributes to a sad technological state of affairs -- I am completely out of the loop! (Although you'd better believe I was ALL OVER the news about Michael Jackson this week, and I'm STILL in shock.) I barely make it through my news and blog feeds in any given week, I am not on Facebook because (again) I am not at a computer for most of the day (and so really what's the point?), I only occasionally Twitter, and I had to dust off the cobwebs from my publishing platform before typing this post today. It feels really strange to be so out of the loop.
It also feels really... LIBERATING.
What I see around me are people sitting at the computer all day long (or PDA or whatever), interacting technologically, reading news feeds, updating their Facebook pages, Twittering, texting, and chatting online. A veritable plethora of ways to connect with the world. And all of them are perfectly ok.
What I don't see around me are people ACTUALLY connecting with the world. And that's what concerns me sometimes. Are we letting the tools overrun the craftsman?
I was a HUGE Battlestar fan -- both times around. (Yes, I'm that old.) And regardless of what I thought of the new series' finale (ahem), there was a quote that resonated strongly for me. As Lee Adama discusses with his father the colonization of New Earth, he makes an argument for starting anew and leaving behind the "baggage" of humans:
"If there's one thing we should have learned it's that our brains have always outraced our hearts. Our science charges ahead; our souls lag behind."
What I crave, then, is balance -- balance between my spirit and its promptings and the use of tools and technology in everyday life. I am grateful for this opportunity to discover new tools and ways of being human and connecting with the world around me, even if I am out of the loop for a while.