Talking Tuesday: The Pointlessness of Unplugging

Yesterday, I ran across a fascinating article about the pointlessness of unplugging from technology.  It has become kind of de rigueur to unplug from the internet for a time, and then return, ostensibly refreshed by the retreat.  I've done it myself, but in order for it to be refreshing, I have to be in retreat from the rest of the world too, like say, at the monastery in the Shasta Mountains that we visit that is off the grid.  The author is right to note that most of us who take internet sabbaticals have no intention of permanently unplugging.  Our lives are too intertwined in the online these days.  Personally, I know that our lives in the city would be immeasurably harder without the delivery services of peapod.com and amazon.com for many household necessities.  On the other hand, I've also noticed that when I spend too much time on social networks, my well-being suffers and I need to walk away and do manual work for a while.  I think the reason why unplugging seems so tantalizing to many of us is this feeling that we are missing something real, something soulful by being online.  Perhaps the best we can say about the internet, as with most things, is moderation and balance.

via

"This is why it’s strange to think of these unplugging events as anything like detox: the goal isn’t really abstinence but a return to these technologies with a renewed appreciation of how to use them. Few who unplug really want to surrender their citizenship in the land of technology; they simply want to travel outside it on temporary visas. Those who truly leave the land of technology are rarely heard from again, partly because such a way of living is so incommensurable. The cloistered often surrender the ability to speak to those of us who rely so heavily on technology."

~The Pointlessness of Unplugging, Casey N. The New Yorker Magazine Online, March 19, 2014