De-apping Your Life

I went fishing this weekend. It’s a hobby I’ve loved since I was a kid. I don’t always catch a lot but that’s not really the entire point anyway. It’s more about escaping. I get away from the city, from emails, from traffic, deadlines, more emails, the list goes on. One of the best parts about where I go fishing is that my cell phone signal stinks. I can sometimes manage to send a text message if I go to the corner of one room, stand a certain way and then keep completely still until the message is sent. Even with my all knowing Iphone, communication is brought to a standstill at the lake and I love it.

The trip to the lake was the culmination of sort of a technological cleansing period for me. Earlier in the week, I started removing apps from my phone. I realized I was becoming way too plugged in for my liking. I caught myself checking my phone more and more often everyday so I took it upon myself to de-app. I took off Facebook, one of my RSS feeds and Words With Friends. It was an enormous sense of relief to find out that if I didn’t check Facebook every day, the world did not stop spinning on its axis.

I think the realization that I’ve had is that technology is a wonderful tool that has continually enriched the human experience. Ever since the microwave, we have sought ways to make our lives more efficient. In doing so, we’ve created the internet and streamlined our access to it. We’ve developed smart grids, smart phones, smart appliances, and in turn, smarter people.

But, the danger comes when we get too plugged in and technology begins to help fuel our narcissism. We start to look at the phone screen as if the little numbers showing new messages comfort our egos because someone has thought about us or needs us. Even more, we’re now expected to be plugged in. It is no longer acceptable not to return emails, texts, and phone calls the next day. People want access to you. They expect more, faster and multitasking has become the living norm in the work environment.

All of this begs the question. Is this helping us? Are we, through our desire to stay plugged in and our quest for more efficiency losing something in the process? The next time you have the opportunity, try unplugging from the world for a while. I’m not even going to try and tell you just how liberating it can be. You’ll find out for yourself.