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There I was standing in the flat countryside looking at my cellphone when - dare I write it - the unthinkable happened, I was offline. No business mails, no friends to chat with on Whatsapp and the blog was suddenly far far away. With mixed feelings, I looked around, saw cows, wind turbines, the gray sky and not a soul. No vibrations would announce the arrival of a new message, no delicate ping would direct my attention to important company news. Alone, offline with only the wind in my face and some unexpected peace and quiet.
What some of you may consider normality is a rare exception for today's netizens both at work and home. Whether you simply want to meet up quickly, act fast on business affairs or share the photos from yesterday's birthday party, your cellphone is always on alert. If you don't react, you're frowned upon. And your mother's "You never call" quickly turns into a reproachful "I desperately tried to reach you several times". It's as if you're still connected by an umbilical cord. Change has also swept through most companies. Back in the days you'd simply come home and take a break but now you're given permanent access to mails and company systems along with various obligations. Did the potential customer from Taiwan write back? These are the moments in which globalization bites you in your behind, creating thoughts that will tempt you to quickly breeze through your emails and answer the most urgent ones before you head off to bed.
The nagging continues throughout your spare time. The alarm clock buzzes to remind you of something, you may need to take your medication, somebody may have a birthday, there's just no hope for some peace and quiet. A particularly weird phenomenon is apps that are supposed to do you good, your personal wellness guides so to speak. They will remind you every few minutes or hours to drink some fluids or look at something pretty and relax. I'd be happy to relax if only I could escape the fuzz. Turn on the news, sport and weather notifications and you're in for stimulus overload. A friend of mine who seems to receive every bit of winter sports related news from all over the world is practically oscillating through life. This doesn't seem to be age-related, even elder gentlemen indulge in the madness.
The reasons are plenty, it's not just boredom or the urge to appear hip. Some may feel a sense of duty, others may simply wish to stay in touch with friends and family or stay informed in an ever so complicated world. At first, everyone loves your "Wonderful!" comment to your niece's child portrait, the quick response you hammered out to help a colleague and the already finished weekend schedule. IT heavyweights like Apple, Google and Microsoft provide us with digital assistants so that we may never forget a thing or get lost in traffic and safely find our ways to the cheapest gas station. And lying in your bed every night with the knowledge that you took care of everything is a good thing, isn't it?
No, not in the long run. I've worked with colleagues that saw their fair share of stomach ulcers, tinnitus and burnout syndromes. Others barely found time for their hobbies or didn't know the first thing about the cities they lived in. These were not stressed out careerists that were trying to make it big fast but regular, motivated guys. It got me thinking. I had to admit to myself that I was thinking about marketing slogans in the shower each morning or stayed up late until 2 a.m. to approve user comments. Not, because I had to (quite the opposite, it gets frowned upon) but because I have a genuine interest in it. I like reading business mails on my cellphone and I'm always looking forward to reading your comments in this blog. But is this taking things too far?
That's why I will switch off my cellphone momentarily and why I won't approve any more comments in the evenings (please bear with me!) but simply live life the way my grandparents did, with a little less rum in my tea, probably. Maybe I'll read a book or go to the seaside and charge my batteries. The PC will sit around unused for a while, I'll even skip news reports but I'm certain the world will keep on spinning. It's worth a try.
My question for you: What are cellphones, computers and other tech gadgets to you? Do you consider modern technology a useful tool, a steady companion or mostly secondary?
Author's note: I got an email from my boss at 2 a.m. saying that he liked the article. I'll make sure to ask him if he fully understood it. :)
Landscape image: Sandra Roeken / SkeeterPhotoArt
Computers, laptops and tablets are wonderful tools, however in my mind the smartphone is the devil incarnate. I see people who have their phones permanently in hand, almost urging the thng to buzz, ping or ring. What a bunch of sad people they must be to have to live their whole lives through an electronic device. I do own a smartphone and I am fully IT literate but hardly use the smartphone. I am not connected with any of the "anti social media" like facebook, twitter etc. For me the smartphone is a tool to make contact with someone in a urgent situation or as a handheld GPS when I get lost. I wonder how todays mobile users would have coped in the days of callboxes on street corners when less than 50% of houses even had a landline phone.
гіркі Ваші слова, але правдиві. враження ,що люди становлять додаток до ПК, мобільних телефонів та інших сучасних комунікаційних пристроїв. однак, це плата за прогрес та технології. зараз нікому не спаде на думку вимикати електрику без якої у дев'ятнадцятому столітті можна було обійтись.
тому, потрібно ( на мою думку) сприймати ці речі як частину сучасного життя.
Ваші повідомлення завжди так добре, що я хотів би використовувати Google Translator. :)
Having a smart phone for me is a good thing.
I don't have any social media installed. (If someone wants to ring me they can call me).
I use a couple of apps which are useful for my work.
There are others which are good like maps if you want to see where something is.
I think we should not loose sight of the fact that the phones were made by people for the convenience of people. Don't let your phone take over your life but use it to benefit your lifestyle.
My friend told me that his wife is on facebook so much that it makes his life easier. I said How? He said "I don't have to have conversation or do anything because she is so consumed by facebook".
I am now in my seventies and retired for 8 years. I had been using computers at work as a GP since the mid 1980s and used my PC at home to carry out committee work. I had a standard cell phone that I used only for emergencies. I now possess a smart phone, which I have had for about 18 months, and find it convenient but I am not dependant on it and could manage perfectly well without it. It is switched off before I go to bed at night and often is not swiched on until I am up and about and have had breakfast. I cannot understand the mindset of people who have to be in constant contact with the wide world. I frequently do not respond to emails until the next day. If anyone really wants/needs to contact me urgently they can do so by using their phone as a phone!
When I am at home or 'off' from work my phone, Laptop, iPad is turned on for an Hour during the day to see if anything needs responding to. If it does it gets to wait until the next day. I have more important things in my life than work that need and deserve my attention and I also enjoy me time. Life is for living not for working 24/7.
Self discipline can be the key. I understand that attitude to responsibilities really defines one's personality, however, balance is the next key. Without balance in one's attitude to handle a situation, then obviously one succumbs to the pressures of life, which becomes your master. The question is, who is the master of the cell phone, or is the cell the master of who? When questions like this arise, what comes to mind is a picture of a frustrated person throwing his cell phone into a nearby lake.
This features someone taking his life back. Have fun!!
As I get older, I have come to appreciate more and more peace and quiet. Not just in my home but in many places. I am quite fortunate that there is a large urban park that contains a nature preserve nearby. See the wild rabbits, listen to the birds, feel the wind as it blows through, smell the flowers, yes roses too. The park is large enough that one can always find a place for a moment of solitude and reflection. I leave behind my electronic gadgets, even my digital music player of 2004 that contains sounds that complement the park life. I call this re-connecting with the world.
Good article.
Well now you have really done it, you asked for a comment, you tickled my conscience, how could I not comment, so now you get a flood of comments and again get overloaded.
I guess I sort of solved the problem by only responding to my phone about three times a day. If, its a phone call, I take it, Whatsapp, is a problem as more of my acquaintances don't phone but expect me to respond immediately to their messages. I guess they will have to learn.
All of which encapsulates perfectly why I do not have a cell-phone and never intend to own one.