Comments on: The Disconnect

By: Ann Wilberton

Ann Wilberton — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:54:24 +0000

I love this post. It is always a beautiful reminder when mother nature overtakes man made distraction.

A few years ago I suspected I was wasting my life in front of the television, so, I ditched it. An amazing thing happened. All of a sudden I had time to cook healthier meals and clean up after myself. I had time to read. I had time to write (just completed a YA novel and I have time to try and get it published) and make art. I had time to visit or talk to friends, pet my dog, go for walks or do nothing and just sit on my front porch and let my mind wander.

Hulu and Fancast are beginning to encroach on this. Your post is really a great reminder of just how rich our lives can be when we disconnect.

My friend and I were just talking about this last night because she has a 5 year old and she wants him to grow up knowing how to use technology but not hampered by it either. Play without gadgets…heck without anything that plugs in or uses a battery. In the middle of our discussion he came roaring into the room with a metal lamp shade on his head and announced he was a robot. I think he’s on the right track.

By: On memories and daydreaming | the strange librarian

On memories and daydreaming | the strange librarian — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 06:03:03 +0000

[...] It’s of great interest to me these days and i’m not the only one; friend and colleague Andy Woodworth recently blogged about disconnecting from the world when it was most literally forced upon him in the form of a [...]

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 07:53:04 +0000

That sounds great, Kelly.

I think you can get away from it all in smaller ways. It may sound silly, but turning off the radio and driving in silence has been working for me as of late. It’s just a quiet time within the boundaries of the car. Also, rather than boot up my computer, I check my email in the morning on my iPod touch. I just scan the headlines and see if there is something that I should answer right away. Most of the times, nothing meets that criteria and I just on and do something suitable less interactive/low tech.

Camping is a good idea, I know it has been thrown around with different people. Even just a quiet cup of coffee out in town is about right, but maybe that’s just me. =)

By: Kelly

Kelly — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 15:51:42 +0000

I’ve been having many similar thoughts over the last few days. Being snowed in alone at home on Wednesday was so relaxing– I didn’t have to go anywhere, and I actually had time to read a book and *think*. Matt and I were talking last night about deliberately building more quiet into our lives. Camping sounds like a great start.

By: Andy

Andy — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:22:27 +0000

I’ve taken similar steps. While I do keep my iPod touch at conferences for checking on things (such as email, Twitter, so forth), I made the decision to keep a legal pad and paper for note taking during presentations and keynotes. When I was in law school, I did take notes using word on a laptop, but that’s different than tweeting all the points. It’s disjointed and doesn’t capture things in the order they were presented (I also type faster than I write, hence my inclination to type over write in an atmosphere like law school.)

I can’t agree more. People want to share what they hear right away with people outside when there is equal (or possibly greater) to taking in everything, collecting it, turning it over in your mind, and then coming out with a conclusion. I remember talking to someone who was surprised at the lack of blog posts about the last ALA; they were used to reading people’s summaries after the event. Now, people just tweet it. Even as I think of it, is this really the best use?

Hmm. I’ll have to think over on that.

By: agrarianlibrarian

agrarianlibrarian — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 20:58:57 +0000

Your descriptions of the blizzard are beautiful! It seems like it usually takes disasters to shake things up and reprioritize things in our lives. On an airplane to go to SXSW last spring, I read an essay from the mid 1990s about community. In it, the author predicted that we would become so disjointed from others that eventually we would form pseudo-communities using technology. (I wish I could remember who wrote it, though I know it was in a book borrowed from a friend – I will have to figure this out!) As I read it, I could see that many of the predictions the author had made had come true. I stepped off the airplane changed.

A few days later the author of the essay’s words rang clear at an amazing show that I could not believe I had gotten in to. The guy next to me was twittering away and leaned over to me and proclaimed how he couldn’t believe how many other people were twittering about being there as well. As I looked around and saw many people with their thumbs to their Blackberries (and whatever else) I was dumbfounded. There we were in one of those perfect moments and no one was really being “there” – they all needed to tell someone else about being there in order to feel it really mattered.

Upon returning to Pennsylvania, I chose to stop using many social networking sites and such because of all the time I wasted on them, and because I knew they kept me from experiencing moments like the one you described in your blog. It’s not that I want to be disconnected from society; I just want to be more aware of the potential time I waste on these distractions and live more consciously throughout each day. Thank you for sharing about your time in the snow, and for reminding me about why time away from technology is good for us all!

By: lemasney

lemasney — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:32:48 +0000

Great capture of the moment Andy. Congrats on the insights.