On, In and Around Mondays: 3 Ways I Quit Technology
This is how it happens.
One moment I am happily gazing at my computer screen. The next moment I feel tired. Or is it hungry? Maybe I want a piece of chocolate. No. Maybe it is the piano I am wanting.
I turn away and wash a dish, clean out a drawer, go outside, play the piano. Whatever seems like the next thing.
It used to be that I couldn't listen to the tiredness, the hunger, the wanting. Why didn't I listen?
Listening is the first thing. It helps me know when to forget about blogging, tweeting, checking email. It helps me remember to look up, and out, beyond.
Tea is the second thing. At four o' clock every day, I find Creme Earl Grey, Bagatelle, Granada Green or African Red Bush. I sit on the back porch, stare at the little garden. My mind wanders. Ten things that were bothering me float away on air, or so it seems. I can see what needs to be done, or not done.
A weekly technology Sabbath is the third thing. I take mine on Sundays. The woods are calling, and the bridges. Or the little lanes. Ten more things that were bothering me disappear into the green, the water, the trails, the stones.
Listening. Daily tea time. A single Sabbath day. I quit technology with these, and then I return. Happily.
Rockefeller and Kitchawan park photos, by L.L. Barkat.
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On, In and Around Mondays (which partly means you can post any day and still add a link) is an invitation to write from where you are. Tell us what is on, in, around (over, under, near, by...) you. Feel free to write any which way... compose a tight poem or just ramble for a few paragraphs. But we should feel a sense of place.
Would you like to try? Write something 'in place' and add your link below. If you could kindly link back here when you post, it will create a central meeting place. :)
RELATED: Write specifically about your relationship to technology and you can add your link at TheHighCalling.org.
Labels: group writing project, sabbath, technology, thehighcalling.org
posted by L.L. Barkat at 8:00 AM
15 Comments:
It sounds so very peaceful. I feel so caught up in trying to squeeze in productivity around children climbing on me, demanding videos and drinks and food...what you describe seems so blissfully serene. I have to keep reminding myself that as attractive as your path sounds, mine is different now, and my challenge is to find God in my path, not in someone else's.
Another physical time, another emotional place...
LL, I'm resisting the urge to get a "smart" phone. Still surviving on a phone that simply calls and texts. No internet access. Oh yeah, I can take pictures with it. I remember when this was state of the art (about a year and a half ago). It's definitely getting more difficult to escape technology, but worth the effort...
the cues, the slowing, the rest...all reminders to step out of what so easily overwhelms and ensnares us.
These breaks from technology posts feel like they were written for me. I'm taking the hint.
So much serenity in your images.
I was not on social media this weekend. I am thinking of making a habit of taking a weekend sabbath, of giving myself back to other things.
Although I'm learning to rest, I struggle with the need to see the Light as well as be a light to others who need to see the Light. I have been online less, I think, since I head for the yard now before I head for my computer, but I think I may need longer technology breaks. Thank you for reminding me.
i so can relate to this feeling of "something" I long for - but not exactly knowing what it is...and we need to listen closely and break away from daily business to make room for it - to be able to breathe again. thanks for this and also for the fantastic pictures
I love these posts on quitting technology. I decided to follow your good example, and I quieted the computer screen over the weekend. It is amazing what happens.
How did I get to the place where I forgot about being quiet or sitting at the piano or reading out on the front porch? I am on the hunt for balance!!
This is lovely, and reminds us of how important it is to reconnect with nature and the real world all around us.
Laura, my link is up. Sorry, I didn't do the first one right, but didn't know how to delete it.
Love, love, love the photos. A real color feast! I could lose myself in them and almost think I was at the "real" place.
I'm so thankful that God has made us in many different ways, so that we can appreciate him, and find rest in him, in our very own special ways. I limit my time online (or interacting with what has come in) each day, but use the computer in offline activities, such as create graphic arts or compiling notes of regional history. My mind isn't so fully engaged as when I'm trying to read or write or digest others' work, so there's opportunity to worship God quietly and with a thankful heart, while I do my own thing.
Can't find the linky thing today --- my post is up at
http://hisfirefly.blogspot.com/2010/11/on-in-and-around-mondays-november.html
Prainy about what to write about me and technology ...
THANK YOU for this post...it's the kind of wisdom I'm eager to learn. I feel like so much of what I've heard in seeking wisdom is either all or nothing; your choices to "quit" technology let me know that we have similar rhythms. I do "quit" all of facebook and much blogging for Lent also. That's a longer season than a weekend, but it seems to open up space. I may do a mini-fast for Advent also.
I linked my post from today. In the narrative portion of my post fits your theme of place.
You're a woman after my own heart. I do this very thing.
It happens to me in the same way. Looking at the screen, I grow weary, sleepy, dull. Suddenly I notice that I think nothing anyone says is significant. I know it's time. And I go.
I walk away. Every day. And plunge my soul into the trees stretched across the mountains as far as I can see. There, I'm awakened and restored.
I go away every weekend, too, for longer periods of time. This is a great topic, and I'm going to blog about it.
So glad I stopped by.
iLove this....let me count the ways. One thousand one...
Oh this is so helpful and timely inspiration. Thank you. I may join you on Monday if you still are doing this...?
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