How to fight off the digital doldrums.

It rained overnight again. Some supreme court decision half the country in a tizzy. Another one has the other half in a tizzy. Suddenly the world is ending, in different ways for both halves.

This was a post from a couple days ago that I forgot to hit send….

People who are freaking out online let it all stack up upon them. Total doom. Total gloom. The politics. The climate. Everything is going to kill them. Why even continue, some ask. They cry out on their electronic keyboards, asking for other electrons to save them. People really need a good prescription for “Get the Fuck Outside and Off Your Phone.” RX. Please, some doctor help them.

The media dominance in fear isn’t new. It’s always pushed these stories. The science may have finally been realized, news flash: fear and lust are significant drivers of human action.  But even before Huberman Labs documented, we all knew this was the case. They’ve always pushed these stories because they have captivated the audience. What is new is that now it’s being pushed far beyond old people in front of their television. A joke we used to make - it was so obvious to us back when it was the old people succumbing to the fear mongers, they had the time to always be listening to their inflammatory AM radio and pm news casts. But now it’s not just them. It’s everyone. The whole world is tuned around their waking hours. First thing they do is input it in their brains in the morning. Last thing they do is input it in their brains before bed. And every hour in between. The working age demographic. The youth. It’s everywhere for everyone all the time. No one gets a break from it. And it’s individually targeted with precision. I know, I do some of the targeting. Anyone working in ad space knows how this works. The system is calculated and built to tap into each individuals wants and fears. All wrapped in cute, invisible “cookies” that follow each and everyone one of us everywhere we go in the online world.

But there is one singular thing we can all do to escape the stories we are being told, almost all of which contain at least a solid amount of fiction; set your phone down. Use it less. Use it to message and call but avoid the landscapes of manipulation. Go outside. Talk to real humans Even strangers. Neighbors. The guy making sandwiches at the sandwich shop. The gal behind the counter at the gas station. Call your parents. Your friends. Make real human connections dominant in your life, not secondary to the digital hemisphere. Be outside without even looking at your device. Without even listening to it. Listen to the birds and the wind instead of your favorite podcast. Let your brain have a little time and space to think for itself without the input of others.

We are not evolved or designed for this level of electronic input. This experiment has only been going on just over a decade with regards to the constant inundation and barrage of electronic signaling, and just over half a century with regards to the electronic entertainment sent from around the world. Until that point humans were hyper local. We need to remember that. This is our place in the world. We don’t evolve overnight. This experiment maybe isn’t worth it as a society, or at least as individuals.

It’s amazing to see what happens within the mind when yo start to step away. You suddenly want less of it. It’s like cutting back on alcohol or unhealthy food… You crave it less. You wonder why you liked it so much in the first place because now you suddenly feel so much better. Real relationships fill the void with so much more fulfillment than make believer “social media” ever can. Those dopamine hits aren’t substantial. They do not stand the test of time. A real conversation with an acquaintance you regularly pass can become a true friendship in a way a social media “friend” likely never will. I’m not saying never. I have some very good friends I met on social media, but the friendships never came to fruition without putting down our phones and meeting and spending time in person.

The real world offers so much more than the digital representation of it ever can. The real world. A book. A photo. A friend. The sound of a park full of people laughing and talking. The sound of a squirrel in the tree. It’s the difference between watching a game on your phone and going to the ball park with friends… next level experiences are attainable. The feel of sun on our faces. The sound of rain on our parka hood as we walk in the storm. People across society seem to be forgetting we can do real things, not just look at others do them.

Drawing, painting. Playing an instrument. Painting rocks. Hobbies just to do things, not monetize them… The amount of time we eat in the digital sphere is gluttonous and it is showing throughout our society as we succumb to homogeneity and doldrum. We are told if we can’t get rich doing a thing it isn’t worth doing. This is the message of consumerism. Better to consume something than try to make something. But it’s fiction.

This morning on my way to swim in the cold creek I passed two kids both sitting silently by themselves at the soccer field down the road. Both were sitting separate, glued to their phones. Later when I passed bye again, both hadn’t moved. This is anecdotal, but we can see the stagnation occurring with increasing presence throughout our society. We are losing what makes life interesting… doing things for the sake of doing them. As more people claim to find no purpose in life, I can’t help but think it is because people have quit doing things. Doing is the purpose. We are meant to be in motion. We are meant to be interactive. What is the point of all this technology if we quit living life? The technology is supposed to free us to do more, not pull us into its black hole of digital consumption. I pass so many kids daily glued to their phones. I see parents in the park, glued to their phones. In most every social place we see… people simply glued…

For me I’m finding liberation in leaving the thing behind. The more I fight the thing, the more free I feel.

“Free your mind” as the whole hippy saying goes. Or, as a modern take on the 80’s bumper sticker “kill your phone.” I’m not suggesting you live without it. I don’t plan to get rid of mine. But I do plan to tame it. To reign in its control of my mind and time. Kill your Television was a response to seeing generally older and inactive people under a state of constant brainwashing. The iPhone was like, “Hold my beer.” So now, that notion has pertinence to us all. The digital invasion occurs in our mind every time we pick it it up. It requires an alert resolve to see it, and control it. That is my goal for myself, and my hope for broader society. I don’t want to live in a society of people glued to digital consumerism. I enjoy seeing people out interacting with one another. Life off line is happier and more importantly, more fulfilling. People who enjoy nature will work to protect it. People who spend their lives fighting digital monsters look vacant as they walk around the real world. It’s part of the reason I share photography in the digital world at all… to help inspire and remind people, there is a beautiful world out there that is worth putting everything down to go enjoy.