This is hard for me to say because of how my job, hobbies and life are tied to technology. It has taken me way to long to recognize this but I think I am finally starting to get a clue. I used to be extremely active. I loved being outside and moving. Lately I don't really like to do anything active. Sitting in front of a computer every day for work and every night for church has made me lazy and lethargic. This has affected me in many ways. Here are some tells that I have an issue. Notice I said have. I am still working through the solution to my problem.
- I am connected to the internet 24/7. At work I'm online. At home I'm online. When in neither place, I'm still online.
- I choose what books I'm going to read by what's available on my Kindle.
- If it weren't for DVR I would schedule my evenings around my favorite shows or their immediate availability on the internet.
- When given the choice between going on a hike or going to a movie, the movies wins every time.
- The closest thing I can attribute to camping in my life is a stay at a nice hotel. A mini refrigerator and only a 27" LCD TV? What am I an animal?
This is not a complete list but I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this. For all the benefits that technology has afforded me, it has also made it easy for me to deteriorate from an active & free human into a programmed machine of a man. What has been the affects of an addiction to technology for me? Here are a few.
- Never fully present in mind or emotion.
- I mentioned the lazy and lethargic thing. I'm currently 40 to 50 lbs. overweight. I hate this about me but am not motivated enough to change it.
- I am glued to one device or another. This frustrates people who try and communicate with me.
- I never seem to have enough time to get things done. I'm fooled into thinking I'm productive because I am doing something. It's just not always something worth doing.
- At the end of my day, I'm more aware of the latest technology trends than I am the trends of my own life.
I have no answers but I know I need to make some changes. How about you? Is there something in your life that has become more important than it should?
First of all, I totally, totally understand. More than I wish I did.
Secondly, reading this in my Google reader made me laugh out loud. Following the post was a long list of links that said things like “Tweet this” “share this on Facebook” “Post this to MySpace” “Digg this” and several more. Ironic. Here, it is the Share and Enjoy stuff across the bottom, but in my reader it had a humorous effect. 😉
That sounds amusing since there follows my addiction.
Um…yeah.
I totally feel this.