Benefits and Drawbacks?
I woke-up tonight and I had been dreaming about men with mustaches. A side effect I think from reading a book before bed! I’ve started to read Better OFF: Flipping the Switch on Technology by Eric Brende. Eric and his wife spend a year living in a small community that uses very little technology or machinery. In one part of the book he focuses on the question,” Was there some baseline of minimal machinery needed for human convenience, comfort, and sociability – a line below which physical effort was to demanding and above which machines began to create their own demands?” Eric makes some interesting reflections over the course of the book but right now I am fascinated with how he has learned that,” Leisure doesn’t end when work begins but pervaded every moment of the day.”
I just finished a course and although it was “work” it also was enjoyable. Perhaps it is the ideal quest to find a way to have leisure or a sense of leisure flow through your day. Eric talks a lot about the sense of fun, community and conversation that is plentiful when completing farm tasks. That this party or social atmosphere can make even the most mundane and routine jobs seem like a pleasurable experience.
So far the book raises a lot of interesting questions and ideas. When do the benefits of technology start to be outweighed by the drawbacks? Oh there are lots of interesting questions but it is late or perhaps early and time to turn off the technology and try to sleep…
The Importance Of …
This summer vacation the value of un-plugging, from phones, email, blogs, facebook and all other forums of technology has inspired me. A grand vacation for me holds a balance between adventure, exploring, seeing, doing, touching, tasting and then resting, reading, reflecting, a little, and in general kind of percolating, like coffee. I like to allow time to let ideas, goals, thoughts and feelings bubble up.
I love technology, gizmos and gadgets galore, but regular periods of un-plugging, from all things that ring, beep or buzz, lets me live in the moment. When really living in the moment I am not planning the next moment, reliving past moments, recording this moment or reading about other people’s moments. I am just being and that is beautiful. ( Looking for more ways to just be. Check out Zen Habits)
Please don’t get me wrong I believe there is a time and a place to be connected with technology but there is also a need find time to connect with your own “personal computer.”
A teacher gave her class an assignment to list what they thought were the Seven Wonders of the World. There was some disparity, but among the most commonly listed were: the Pyramids of Giza, the Taj Mahal, the Grand Canyon, the Panama Canal, the Empire State Building, St Peter’s Basilica and the Great Wall of China.
One young girl seemed to be struggling with her list and the teacher asked if she needed some help. The student was appreciative of the offer for help because she said, “I couldn’t quite make up my mind because there were so many.”
When asked what she had listed thus far, the girl hesitated because her list was markedly different from the others. With some reticence she read, “I think that the Seven Wonders of the World are to see, to hear, to touch, to taste, to feel, to laugh, to love.”
From the Article, ” The Real Seven Wonders of the World”
By Nadene Grieve Deslippe-“The only normal people are the ones you don’t know very well yet.”
Joe Ancis
Kuwait City, KUWAIT
Christine Oastler is a freelance travel writer, teacher and artist, currently living in Mahboula, Kuwait. Born and raised in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, Christine obtained her Bachelor of Arts at Trent University and her Bachelor of Education from Queen’s University. Currently traveling around the Middle East she finds herself riding the odd camel and embracing a new culture!