Thanks for the report and encouragement, Daniel. You and Derek encourage this old soul that not all of the younger generation are so out of touch with what really matters. So far since reading your first post on this, I have deleted all except our FB account, which we use to keep up with friends from different eras of our lives (at our age, it's a must for knowing who is still with us) and, of course, the obligatory grand kid photos. I had a twitter, LinkedIn, and instagram, but never really used them, so getting rid of those was easy. I would say the main thing for us is our phones. Funny, I was thinking the other day that before smart phones, we seemed to be able to keep in touch with those we needed to and now, we cannot even go anywhere without wondering if we have our phones or not. Crazy how easy it was to slide right into the need to have them with us 24/7.
Thank you for your kind words, Cork! One of my favorite compliments to receive is hear from a respected elder that I “get it”. That is so awesome to hear that you have started to detach from social media. Your reasons for keeping Facebook are perfectly reasonable. You’ve set yourself up to approach it in a healthy way so way to go! One of the reasons I actually said in this post that I use my phone like a landline is because even if younger people have never seen one at home, they have seen one at work or school or in someone’s office or seen one somewhere, so the reference should still make sense.
The convenience and ease of use is definitely why we all adopted having these phones on us at all times. But I think we are now realizing that being connected at all times is not at grand as it seemed when the technology became available.
Since I am no longer on social media, there are friends I haven’t kept up with as well. My goal to overcome that is to start writing letters and sending them in the mail. With two young babies, I have no idea when I’ll be able to achieve that goal, but it’s a goal nonetheless!
Daniel, thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences. I find personal stories are most helpful in encouraging others while remaining honest about the struggles we face. The list of "cognitive liberators" was meant to point toward writers who recognize that we need to act and are trying in different ways to redirect their attention to reality. Digital detox is a start and I'll add a post with specific helpful strategies. These however are only temporary crutches, and will no lead to lasting change unless the foundation for our daily lives gets redirected toward reality around us. Thanks again for sharing your experience in fighting the digital beast.
I was joking about maybe being removed from your prestigious list haha. But writing all this out was great because it highlighted some work yet to be done. It’s crazy how just thinking through and articulating my understanding of The Machine reinvigorated me. I’m determined not to resist it even further. I’m no longer blissfully ignorant and am now responsible for what I do with the knowledge I have. One of my next goals is to work on my penmanship and start connecting with friends through good old fashioned letter writing.
Thanks for the report and encouragement, Daniel. You and Derek encourage this old soul that not all of the younger generation are so out of touch with what really matters. So far since reading your first post on this, I have deleted all except our FB account, which we use to keep up with friends from different eras of our lives (at our age, it's a must for knowing who is still with us) and, of course, the obligatory grand kid photos. I had a twitter, LinkedIn, and instagram, but never really used them, so getting rid of those was easy. I would say the main thing for us is our phones. Funny, I was thinking the other day that before smart phones, we seemed to be able to keep in touch with those we needed to and now, we cannot even go anywhere without wondering if we have our phones or not. Crazy how easy it was to slide right into the need to have them with us 24/7.
Thank you for your kind words, Cork! One of my favorite compliments to receive is hear from a respected elder that I “get it”. That is so awesome to hear that you have started to detach from social media. Your reasons for keeping Facebook are perfectly reasonable. You’ve set yourself up to approach it in a healthy way so way to go! One of the reasons I actually said in this post that I use my phone like a landline is because even if younger people have never seen one at home, they have seen one at work or school or in someone’s office or seen one somewhere, so the reference should still make sense.
The convenience and ease of use is definitely why we all adopted having these phones on us at all times. But I think we are now realizing that being connected at all times is not at grand as it seemed when the technology became available.
Since I am no longer on social media, there are friends I haven’t kept up with as well. My goal to overcome that is to start writing letters and sending them in the mail. With two young babies, I have no idea when I’ll be able to achieve that goal, but it’s a goal nonetheless!
Daniel, thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences. I find personal stories are most helpful in encouraging others while remaining honest about the struggles we face. The list of "cognitive liberators" was meant to point toward writers who recognize that we need to act and are trying in different ways to redirect their attention to reality. Digital detox is a start and I'll add a post with specific helpful strategies. These however are only temporary crutches, and will no lead to lasting change unless the foundation for our daily lives gets redirected toward reality around us. Thanks again for sharing your experience in fighting the digital beast.
I was joking about maybe being removed from your prestigious list haha. But writing all this out was great because it highlighted some work yet to be done. It’s crazy how just thinking through and articulating my understanding of The Machine reinvigorated me. I’m determined not to resist it even further. I’m no longer blissfully ignorant and am now responsible for what I do with the knowledge I have. One of my next goals is to work on my penmanship and start connecting with friends through good old fashioned letter writing.