Digital dependency, digital distraction & why I'm not taking a digital sabbatical.
As a writer and poet, the biggest difficulty I face is reducing the noise, so I can hear the signal.
This morning, I had intended to work on my new online bookstore, and my book layouts to stock the shelves. Before I began, I logged in to Twitter, to check what a couple of people were up to. Gwen Bell was the first of those. I read her new blog post on ths subject of 'Digital Sabbatical', via her tweet, decided to contribute to the discussion, then began a little background research, online of course. Now, more than 6 hours later, I'm still thinking about something I never even intended to do. I believe in synchronicity, but I also believe in distraction, digital distraction being my biggest issue right now. When I think about the purpose of my work, and get really clear about my vision for that work, life, and work, everything flows. Yet it can take one slip-up to allow me to become distracted, lost in the matrix, for hours, sometimes days.
I take a 'digital sabbatical' every Sunday. My partner and I agreed to switch off our devices on a Sunday, in order to connect more closely with each other again. We've spent a lot of time in close proximity to each other, travelling and working. We like the intesity. Devices get into the gap. But we both like to read, and because of the nomadic nature of our life together, we read 99% of our material in eBook form. For me, that means my MacBook and iPhone, for my partner, it means her iPod Touch. We just bought a Kindle, in order to take that reading onto a less connected platform.
My MacBook is my office. I need to take time off out of the office. But I still need my audiobooks, eBooks, podcasts etc, that are available both on my MacBook and on my iPhone. I try to use the iPhone for personal use, and the MacBook for business. That's a good way to separate things out. Seth Godin shared some helpful thoughts about this.
A little history.
I first became a location independent professional / nomadic worker back in 1991, when, as a surfer, I bought a VW camper van, saved up, gave up my job, and with my partner, headed West to learn to surf and live a new life. In the boot was a hand powered sewing machine, with which I hand made beautiful kites and juggling bags. Inside was a portable drawing board, a battery powered typewriter, Pantone markers, and lots of paper, along with cut and paste kit. In the cab was a car phone. We were one of the only surf buses we came across that had one. Only sales reps and business men had them back then. But we were cutting a new trail. We travelled around the West and South West of the UK, cold calling on businesses, selling t-shirts designs and other graphic design to the fledgling surf industry. They were fantastic times. Our only technology was that phone, and the typewriter.
In many ways, I miss that disconnected life, but to give up my current tools would be a backwards step. This era is for me, about finding the way to work with these new tools, to use them as tools, not to develop the negative habits and traits of a 'user'.
Conclusion.
I don't need a digital sabbatical. But I do need a fresh approach to the use of digital technology in my life. I see this as an organically developing situation, I am an evolving being, it is not in my nature to create rigid rules and structures for myself to live by. I don't find that helpful.
I think that we all think too much, way too much, about all of this. The best way is to take time out throughout the day, throughout the week, to be aware of how we relate to digital technology. To keep a healthy ongoing relationship with your technology, in order to keep a healthy ongoing relationship with your partner friends and family. To need a sabbatical is to have over consumed, to have come close to the edge of addiction. It is a sign of an unhealthy relationship with technology.
I nearly stopped writing this post, because all I want to do is write poetry and travel, but before I cut and run, I want to share these thoughts.
I recently placed a deletion notice on Facebook, advising friends that I'm deleting my account, explaining why, and asking personal friends to ensure I have their latest contact email and mobile number. I'm not disconnecting, I'm reconnecting, in a closer manner.
I follow zero people on Twitter, but I converse with many on there. Start a conversation with me and you'll see, I just don't want to chitchat or listen to chitchat any more. My life force has been under threat twice in my life, so I value it highly, and refuse to waste it.
On Sundays, I take walks, read paperback books, write in a notebook or journal, talk, laze. I'm working on adding more of that back into my life. Every day begins with a few hours of [MacBook reading] and writing, followed by a beach swim or surf, breakfast in the open air, then home for coffee, coding and publishing. Later I swim again, or surf, or hike, sometimes all three.
The connections I'm growing are human. The connections I'm reducing and deleting are digital. I wonder if we will look back on this era in twenty years, and be glad we found a saner way to live than constantly connected.
If you're looking to reconnect with life, with the spiritual, and to get a healthy relationship with technology, I recommend the following ebooks, all of which I have read, or am currently reading.
Digital Warriorship. Gwen Bell.
Augmented Humanity. Ev Bogue.
Minimalist Business. Ev Bogue.
Focus. Leo Babauta
This post was written in response to Gwen Bell's request for bloggers to write about their digital sabbatical. Find out more here.