Column ~ “What the hell am I doing? What did I do 10 years ago when there was an awkward silence?”
From Corey Pyle
Sometimes the greatest thing about Facebook and all of the cool stuff ( I F***ing Love Science, The Mind Unleashed, etc) you can learn, as well as getting updates on my favorite teams, musicians & news, is taking a break from it all. Remember way back when we used to miss stuff like a sporting event, a new show/song, or a crazy story? Someone would have to fill us in and we’d have to use our imaginations, imagine that!
Did you hear about the new amazing scientific discovery of graphene? Or that a 14 yr old found a cure for cancer. An elephant can remember things and learn how to draw. It’s difficult sometimes to digest just how freaking groundbreaking it all is and gain perspective about what it all means. Today it’s getting harder to get “unplugged” and just let things sink in (harder for some more than others and vice versa). When I was growing up all we wanted to do was go play outside, which I rarely see today with kids. Most adults/families couldn’t wait for camping/road trips, now it seems a little more about convenience.
This is not a complaint about the Internet – it’s an absolute Godsend and we have the world at our fingertips. However, finding balance isn’t easy for us humans. I try to remind myself that we are weaving our way through a new and different age. It’s an interesting and wonderful thing to be alive right now, but I think it’s important to practice balance. Such as putting down your phone when you’re with friends, strangers or even by yourself.
I’ve started to do this multiple times before and thought “What the hell am I doing? What did I do 10 years ago when there was an awkward silence? Oh, I probably felt awkward and then the next time that happened I felt less awkward and less awkward until I eventually saw it coming and instead of feeling awkward I felt comfortable because I expected it and thought of something CREATIVE to say or do differently. PRACTICE. I feel like this has become a lost art.
Our minds were meant for more than to be used for giant data dumps. Maybe the same thing is wrong with schools — kids getting fed information simply to repeat it back. They have little time to digest and turn that knowledge to experience and wisdom. Is there too much over-stimulation and not enough social activity or downtime? Go fetch ya some inner peace and then keep it to yourself!
“To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.” – Lao Tzu
