What do you really need?
This entry was posted on April 19, 2012, in Simplicity and tagged Laptop, Smartphone, Technology. Bookmark the permalink. 5 Comments (Edit)
I noticed that I hadn’t written in a while and it wasn’t for lack of inspiration. It was because I didn’t have my laptop with me. I had become so used to typing that I felt uncomfortable writing my thoughts down on paper… and then I found myself thinking, how silly is that – I don’t ‘need’ a laptop to write!
I know a lot of people don’t like technology and complain about how intrusive it is in their lives, from mobiles ringing at the dinner table to more people reading from kindles and ereaders than holding a book. They yearn for a time before all this technology because they remember life was simpler without it. I definitely don’t feel the same about technology, I love it! I really think that it’s a good step forwards and I know that my life is easier because of it. But I do appreciate its easy to let technology get in the way and become something that we think we ‘need’ (like me ‘needing’ my laptop to write).
Even though I adore technology, I like to think that I make technology work for me. I’m happy to turn my mobile on silent and let an answer machine take the message, I’m happy that I’ve turned off all the notifications from social networking sites so I can check facebook as often or as little as I like, I’m happy to respond to emails when I’ve got the time (if it’s urgent they’ll call).
I know lots of people are given smart phone from work, so that you can check your emails from home and be contactable all the time. I know from my friends, rather than making life easier it just adds stress, especially those smart phones you can’t really turn off. If you are in a similar position, you could start taking technology breaks. Start small, put it on silent between 10pm and 8am, if that’s nice and easy for you, elongate the breaks. If it’s vital that you check your email at home, set a time to do it and stick to that time. The question really is: do you honestly ‘need’ to check your email as often as you do?
It might not be email for you, it could be social networking or your smart phone or you could have the perfect balance of technology. I wrongly felt like I ‘needed’ my laptop to write, but of course I didn’t and after the first few words on paper, my thoughts flowed just as easily as they do on my laptop. What do you feel like you ‘need’ but don’t really?