An email rolled in from a reader yesterday, responding to my fax machine nostalgia:
(not sure she wants me to mention her name)
My first thought within the first few sentences was, hang on, everything said makes me think how disconnected we are these days, not how connected we are.
One’s literal whole eyeline is surrounded by screens rather than humans, putting headphones in to drown
out humans around you and constantly sending texts rather than speaking to an actual human!
This story checks out.
As our lives become increasingly tethered to cyberspace and the world becomes more & more digitally
connected, deep & meaningful human to human connections are fading faster than the 4G at Glastonbury.
In January, a 13 year old boy became the first person ever to complete the classic computer game Tetris.
No doubt
there’s much art and skill to being the first nerd over a finishing line which has stood uncrossed for 34 years.
And while I doff my proverbial cap, I can’t help think that climbing trees or building forts with his buddies would provide a connection and bonding that transcends pixels and screens.
Who am I to say.
Though the other day I saw a stat that reported the average American now spends 12 years of their life glued to their smartphone.
12 years!!
Forget Tetris. In that time, you could complete AirBnB, Netflix and Tinder as well.
In fact, I’m sure it won’t be long before another geek sticks his or her head out of their
basement to proclaim to the world that they have indeed watched every single show on Netflix, then gets a movie made in their honour.
Such is the world we live in.
Of course, lots of good has come from the digital
revolution. You wouldn’t be able to read my chirpy emails while standing in line at Itsu or perched on the can without all this tech wizardry.
But I don’t think anyone could reasonably argue that spending 12 years of their life playing Zelda or scrolling Harry Potter memes is doing all that much good when it comes to connecting with fellow
humans.
Speaking of connection:
One of the connections which has become increasingly valuable to me is my own connection with myself.
The more I can connect and tap into who I am, my own desires, inclinations & preferences and the direction I want to head, the less I feel I’m aimlessly drifting around at the whims of other people and society, and the more I feel like I’m living an authentic and fulfilling life.
You could
even say living the life I’m meant to live.
This might sound airy-fairy to some. But I make no apologies for that.
Those who wonder what in the blazes I’m harping on about might want to stop reading now.
But those who understand exactly what I mean and who want their very own piece of the action can click on over here to read more about how coaching can help:
https://waitinglist.followingfulfilment.com
That’s all for today.
- Tom