Artifact 2

This audio really stuck me in a good way. I really want to read his book now. Today when I hear people talk about the Internet or technology I usually hear a group of people on one side or the other. One view is the Internet is bad (usually the older generations) and we need to get rid of it. The other side see the Internet as good (younger generations) and they can't live without it. I rarely hear the argument about finding a balance between the two, the idea of being "disconnected" distancing ourselves from society norms for our own benefit.  It is interesting to me to see that this problem is not a new problem, but all throughout history there has been the struggle between the demands that new technology has on our life and how do we adjust to that new technology.

When he mentioned the Internet Sabbath it made me think of a time when I made a pledge to not watch TV for a whole semester. I did it, but the first week was the hardest. I would find myself watching TV without even realizing it. My family had to remind me of my pledge.  After the first week I was good for the rest of the semester. I never realized how much TV had become an addicting habit in my life. I felt free to do other activities. The semester made me realize that I had a choice to choose not to watch. It was so freeing to say "no" like I was in bondage before. I think the same goes for any new technology. We forget we have a choice of how much technology we want in our life and in some ways how much we want technology to control our life.

I have a teacher that does mindful mediations at the beginning of class. The meditations try to quiet the mind to focus on just our breath without other thought interrupting. It is hard to do, but I think it speaks of what Sincak -“The restless energy of the hunted mind” and Shakespeare-“Clear the clutter of the distracted globe” were talking about. The mediations also challenge us students to focus our minds throughout the day on one task at a time. If I am going up the stairs focus on just going up the stairs not think about what I’m going to eat for lunch while going up the stairs. Our minds get clutter with so much today. Life is so simple as a child, because everything is taken care of, food, housing, and daily activities are governed by parent. I believe children have the ability to think of only one thing at a time, because they don’t have to think of everything else, but I also believe we as adult have the ability to do the same thing but we have to choose to do it, it does not come naturally like when we were children.

He also mentioned a study that concluded that 3D tools such as paper are easier on then mind than digital tools or something to that effect. I don’t like reading on a computer screen. Anything that I have to read that is more than a page I prefer to read on paper. I don’t know why. It is annoying to me to read from a screen. With a computer I can’t just cuddle up in a blanket and read I have to position the computer just right so I can see the screen.