All that we are is the result of all that we have thought. It is founded on thought. It is based on thought. — Buddha, The Dhammapada
Robert Anton Wilson begins his masterpiece Prometheus Rising with this quote from the Buddha. Isn’t it hard to think lucidly when we’re sat on a screen? If the Buddha is right, is ‘all we are’ the result of screen time?
I’m on holiday. I’ve been offline for the last week, and will stay offline for most of next. In doing so, I’ve decimated my screen time. Most weeks, I bet I spend ~8 hours on screens each day, not including multiple concurrent screen use. (If accounted for, concurrent screen addiction, the digital equivalent of a candy-flip, would take me over 24 hours some days.) In this last week, on some golden days, I’ve spent less than 20 minutes scrolling, tapping and searching. And heck I feel good.
It’s widely agreed that life can be viewed (more) objectively from a distance. And this distance is inversely correlated to screen time: The more time on the screen, the less space, or distance, you have. Dark narratives, which were just a fortnight ago at arms length (i.e. much too close), now feel a mile away. From this distance, they are cuddly toys either to be treasured or casually given to charity. They are no longer the ghoulish wide-toothed villains they seem when I get tired, or overburdened, or absorbed in my screen.
Time offline means time with books, too. And time with books means exposure to new directions of thinking, and innovative ways to look a the world. Consequently, let’s keep things brief this week, and open a book (I’m reading Prometheus Rising, it’s super).
Live well,
H