It’s Thursday, so I’m Crafting my Life! This year, I’m just writing about whatever is currently on my mind. I invite you to do the same. If you would like to chime in and contribute a guest post about your own journey, please drop me a line.
I remember being at work one day when a power outage happened. It didn’t last long – maybe 15 or 20 minutes. Not long enough that we all gave in and went home, but long enough that we all wandered into the lunch room and stared at each other. Blink. Blink blink blink. What do we do now?
In our current world, we depend heavily on technology. I would say that in our working world, most of us depend on it even more. In order to access the information we need to accomplish almost anything, we need a computer with an internet connection – or at least a network connection of some type. It’s how we communicate, share information, record our thoughts, submit our finished projects and waste time when we should be working. Without it, I feel a little bit lost. Maybe even a little bit powerless.
This morning, as I was attempting to respond to a blog comment, Strocel.com went down. At the time, I was home alone and dripping with sweat from my run, and I had sat down for “just a second” before I had my shower. I knew that I should take the downtime as a sign that I should just get up, rinse off and get dressed. I knew that by the time I did, my site would likely be back up and running, and all would be well. But I couldn’t pull myself away. Instead, I started stalking my web host’s website and Twitter stream, looking for answers. Did they know about my problem? Were they working on it? Would I ever be able to reply to that comment?
The good news is that, like that power outage at work, the website downtime only lasted for about 15 minutes. But during that 15 minutes I had a chance to consider my own reaction, and my dependence on technology. What does it mean that I’m so panicked when my computer fails me that I can’t step away? Have I lost all sense of perspective, when a temporary glitch ruins my morning? What would I do if something more serious happened, and I was forced offline for days or weeks?
The answer, of course, is that I would survive and find plenty of other things to fill my time. I would probably start writing with a pen and paper, since writing has become such an important part of my life, but I would almost certainly write less. Maybe I would knit more, or sew more, or give my garden the good weeding it sorely needs. I’m not sure, and it doesn’t really matter right now anyway, but clearly I would carry on living.
I lived without a TV for a little over two years, and if that experience taught me anything it’s that I don’t need the things I think I need. It’s easy to become very accustomed to certain habits, routines and comfort objects, to the point where we can’t conceive of life without them. But when they’re gone, somehow we manage. Just as I managed for the first 18 years of my life without having reliable computer access, or logging onto the internet. Just as the entire planet managed for millenia. People are resilient, and I am, too.
In spite of my panic I think these brief, enforced technological breaks may be good for us. They force us to step away and find something else to do. They remind us that there’s a whole world out there that goes on, completely oblivious to whatever’s happening on Twitter or Facebook or YouTube. And they impose a sense of perspective, when we would otherwise be disappearing down the internet rabbit-hole.
It’s no fun when technology doesn’t cooperate. But I appreciate the reminder that I can survive without it.
How do you react when technology fails? Are you able to keep your sense of perspective, or do you freak out and panic like me? I’d love to hear!
Just a month ago the power went out for the entire afternoon. I finished reading an entire book!
My laptop died last night. Heading to Mac store in a few. I’m freaking out! But I’ll probably get a lot if baking done. And maybe even do laundry. Sigh.
Amber’s last post … knowing when to scale back to grow
We hide the Wii sometimes, randomly so the kids can’t watch shows on Netflix. The oldest gets mad but then our kids and the kids who were over played the best hide and seek game I had seen in a while.
Naomi’s last post … Tibor Gerely’s The Great Big Book of Bedtime Stories Memories
I do, I do freak out. It’s pathetic. It’s more the uncertainty of not knowing how long it’s going to be gone that bothers me. But I agree it’s good to go without it sometimes.
allison’s last post … 1000 Islands of Awesomeness
Our power went out last Saturday for about 12 hours. At first it was fine. Kids played together, I got to actually finish a book. And then it got later. And the kids started whining about wanting to watch tv. And I wondered what the heck I’d make for dinner with no power.
So off to Nana’s we went, my oasis, my wonderful, fully powered oasis
If the aliens attacks and zap our power grids, I’ll be screwed, I know it!
We just went camping and it was our first time without smart phones. I thought I would hate it – And I did miss checking in at local shops and giving them shoutouts on Foursquare – but really it was a nice break. I checked my email twice during the week while doing laundry but that was it. I would never purposely disconnect but forced breaks are great, especially as we are a very media-heavy household.
Janine’s last post … How-to Camp with your Toddleby