Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Space.

Creating a Good Life. This class is where I've been getting most of my gems and transferring them on to here. And here I am, with yet another topic to discuss. We're talking about the impact on media in creating a good life and having authentic happiness. 

Guys. This is gonna be a long one but I promise it'll at least make you think.

Sometimes technology is great in the way it can connect us with loved ones miles away.

It also can create quite dire circumstances. A quote from the book, Hamlet's Blackberry, just...it's like....BOOM. Okay. I'm like scared to type it because it's so flipping true and I'm about to throw it out into the digital universe. And I also really don't know any other way to introduce it. 

"....tethered to our screen."

Ouch. When you read that do you just feel like you're a sickly cow tied up against a fence post? I just. It's so dang true!!! How many times do I check my phone to see if I have a message or a call. I'm bored,   thus I go on facebook. I'M RELIEVING MY BOREDOM THROUGH LOOKING AT A DIGITAL SCREEN. This is a great way to spend my life, people. 

Most of us kiddos in my generation really don't know what it's like to be alone. Think about it. I decide to take a nice drive of solitude to a field or something and I'm all thinking I'm completely alone--when really I can connect with everyone I know by pushing a few buttons on my cellular device. And I find myself aching for someone to contact me or vice versa....but for some reason don't feel like I have the power to drive up to their house and found out how that person is really doing. Truly connecting with that person.

But really, how liberating is it when you go somewhere without your phone? No interuptions, no distractions. Just you and who you are with and where you are.

"Advertisements pitch everything form cars to cola as instruments of self-expression and liberation, though they're really the opposite. Be a rebel, wear the shoes everyone else is wearing.

I still struggle to ignore these messages. But when I succeed at standing apart, the payoff is enormous, and not just in a selfish way. The best kind of aloneness is expansive and generous. To enjoy your own company is to be at ease not just with yourself but with everyone and everything in the universe. When you're inwardly content, you don't need others to prop you up, so you can think about them more freely and generously. Paradoxically enough, separation is the way to empathy. In solitude we meet not just ourselves but all other selves, and it turns out we hardly knew them."

How many times have I been like, "If I just have this shirt that everyone has, it will be a nice outward expression of who I am." Something along those lines happened in my head. What? 

And I feel like I am "connecting" with people as I look at their pictures on facebook about their trip to wherever or that date with whoever. Whatever happened to actually asking someone first-handedly? Or Pinterest. I know I have lots of projects where I think it would be fun...but what about actually doing them? The nerve.

"In less connected times, human beings were forced to shape their own interior sense of identity and worth--to become self-sufficient. By virtue of its interactivity, the digital medium is a source of constant confirmation that, yes, you do indeed exist and matter."

A lot of the time, I feel like who I am on the internet defines who I am--the pictures I share, my blog posts. Although these things aren't bad, sometimes I feel a sense of loss of who I am when I think about what people see on my profile. Does anyone else experience this phenomenon? It's a sad truth I hate to admit, but I feel validated whenever I get a comment or a like. 

I'm not condemning the use of screens. But, I want to allow myself space between times of screen. This way I can really, truly take advantage of the connectedness that does happen in the digital universe. But it can't be appreciated if the chance isn't given. Give yourself some space.

Twice up the barrel, once down the side, my friends.

P.S. This post is dedicated to Kira Johnson because she is like a walking testimony of this concept. Hi, I love you.

2 comments:

  1. You are so wise, it's unreal.

    Thanks for this post, cutie. And for your friendship. I'mma come visit you toDAY.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I told you this over the phone, but McCall, I LOVE your passion. I love how you love what you are writing and studying about. This post is absolutely brilliant and SO true. You are amazing.

    ReplyDelete