You don’t need library to download the scent of honeysuckle. You can hear the music of a chattering creek without a secure connection or authentication.
We spend so much time connected to and with our tech and our code that we forget what it feels like to be connected to the world around us, to nature, and even to people “in real life.”
I suggested to a friend, a talented and prolific coder, who had been feeling stressed and a bit off balance lately, to make a conscious effort to avoid tech, just to be present with her surroundings and notice the details of the natural world. She reached out to me a few days later:
I’ve started becoming more aware of nature and sounds around me. I took a walk this morning and didn’t look at my phone once! It felt amazing! I’ve been so distracted lately by tech, news, etc. I just need a brain break.
I was fortunate enough to have a week off between jobs. During that time I explored my neighborhood, visiting parks, seeing places I had never seen. It was the peak of cherry blossom season so I visited a local Japanese garden. I sat on a bench looking at the trees hanging over a lake, feeling the breeze, sensing the solidness of the ground beneath my feet, watching the branches sway. I had my phone on silent in my pocket. There was no software, no data, nothing to execute and nothing to “check.” I was able just to be there enjoying the fleeting beauty of the cherry blossoms. My mind grew calm. The stress drained out of me. I let myself get lost in the moment.
The beautiful local Japanese garden
At one point someone walked past me, staring into his phone. He aimed it at a cherry tree, took a photo and turned and walked away. He hadn’t paused once to look at the tree close up with his own eyes. He hadn’t taken a moment to be present with the experience, to smell the air, or to watch petals caught in a breeze.
He had a flat image he could upload later, though, and collect some likes on social media. It’ll remind him of a moment, but the moment will be devoid of ambience gained from using all your senses. I take plenty of pictures myself but they are to help me recall the richness of an occasion that I have taken the time to experience fully.
I find that richness to be cleansing, using different parts of my brain so that others may rest, creating memories that are substantive and not as fleeting as a notification or a headline or the latest frontend framework. I also find that when I do reconnect to the tech, and my projects, it is like coming back from vacation rested and alert.
How do you disconnect from technology and what does it mean to you?