After a blissful few weeks of not having connectivity of any kind, it is time for re-entry into the world of blinking lights, notifications, and interruptions. I am not ready — but I can’t hide from the reality of modernity!
What did I miss? Apart from talking to my parents, not much! For sure, I didn’t miss the techlandia’s skulduggery. I don’t miss the faux outrage of media about tech, and I didn’t miss the Twitteisms of fake gods of the Internet.
Life without being on the drip of connectivity is elementary. You contemplate and think about things you tend to avoid. Reading a book becomes a more satisfying experience, a walk even more meaningful. Time loses the allure of urgency enforced upon us by the network. Lack of distractions has been under-appreciated by us connectivity junkies. And perhaps I am going to strive to have at least a few of these connectivity fasts a year.
When I called her, my mother asked me if I had missed anything. A quick second later, I replied to her, nothing. I missed having access to my music, but even that was something I eventually got used to — the sound of silence is the perfect antidote. I didn’t miss the news or entertainment, for that matter, and it is not as if there is anything new anyway.
Sex in the city is back on the air as “And Just Like That.” We in America stop doing new material — we want retreads as our entertainment, politicians, and ideas. Culture is a moment in time, and yet we try and resurrect its past with repeated attempts to recreate that moment. Society and culture that lives too much in the past are on a one-way street to irrelevance.
Oh, while I was away, I did experience Totality. Now that’s some spiritual shit! It reminds you that we are all so insignificantly insignificant in the long arc of time.
December 11, 2021. San Francisco!
PS: If you want to know more about Baily’s Beads, Wikipedia has a good entry.