As the senior member of the FLI Life swat team, I have a unique perspective of life before technology. Let me say I am pro-technology and pro-improvement.
But is it all improvement? My life is filled with notifications and communications happening at light speed all around the world. I don’t long for a simpler time because that’s just foolish. I do long for a time where these devices are serving us, not the other way around. We are chained to the ding of someone taking a photo of their food. Really? Your food?
We are shackled to our devices in our offices and cars, but even worse in our own bedrooms and even the bathroom. There is no place in our life for distance. Every relationship is improved by a little distance. We go to dinner with our families and don’t talk. Just look at what others are doing. We are lost in other people’s lives. They are on vacation again, or we look at the fun they are having. We then compare our internal life with their external life and come up lacking.
I believe we need some clarity in our relationship to our device. I have clear boundaries in every other relationship in my life. I know what is expected and they know what they can expect from me. It is time to set clear boundaries with our digital relationship. It’s time we remember who we are and what we stand for, just as mom said all those years ago. I am on a journey of discovery and am learning who I am.
Now the question is: Who am I in this digitally polluted world? Can we find peace in this landscape of comparison? I am determined to believe we can. FLI life is connecting to ourselves and then being able to connect with others. It’s about unplugging for a second and watching our addict-self respond.
Let us become conscious of these limitations; let us become conscious of these advantages. Slow down for one second and ask ourselves: What do we want in this digital relationship?
