Disconnecting

It's been a few weeks since I posted anything on this blog. I thought I'd add a note to let everyone know that I'm still alive, and to convey what I've been doing lately.

I've been avoiding as much as possible the unending spew of political news and commentary that is flooding our media channels right now. It's not that I don't have any interest in the upcoming elections. However, the "debate" between the Democrats and the Republicans, let alone the independent parties, has gotten so partisan and so stupid that it's better to just wait until election day, make your choices, and then watch to see how the races come out. Consequently, I'm trying (sometimes unsuccessfully) to swear off a heavy diet of political fast-food for the time being.




In the process of trying to focus on those things that are important and worthy of attention in life, I've concluded that they didn't include participation in the social network sphere. Therefore, I've deactivated my Twitter account, and removed myself from LinkedIn. I've never had a Facebook account, so I'm free from that particular albatross.

I concluded that I don't live my life online like so many other people apparently do. I use internet technologies to provide me with access to email and chat for communication, to websites for research and enjoyment, and to blogging for personal expression. I don't have to continually monitor what my followers are thinking or doing, nor do I need constant alerts about what people in my network are up to at any given moment. My interaction with the net is more or less under my control, and I particularly don't want my activities to be used to target advertising at me. I hate ads. I will literally go out of my way to avoid buying something from a company that has annoyed me with their advertising. Google is therefore in direct confrontation with me, but I can filter ads on websites, and ignore the rest. Years of watching network television have given me eyes that are blind to ads directly in front of me.

Since I don't live my life with a receiver implanted in my brain to pick up the latest and greatest from the net, I figured there was no reason to waste time or computer storage on social network sites. Therefore, bye-bye Twitter, bye-bye LinkedIn, never gonna check you out Facebook.

There's another (sad) conclusion I've come to after having used Twitter for the last year or so, and to a lesser degree LinkedIn. That is, that most people's lives are banal in the extreme. It's not that people aren't worth knowing, loving, and caring for. They are, and rightfully so. What has become obvious is that I don't need to know about the banality and mediocrity of all my friends and associates. I don't need to immerse myself in that, nor they in my own. I don't care that they're having breakfast. I don't care that the dog crapped on the carpet. I don't give a hoot if DH is on a tear about his sports team. I don't feel the need to share my own mundane observations on a daily basis. No, posting something every week or two here should be sufficient, and gives me time to pick through the tediousness and perhaps actually deliver something of some value.

So, that's where I am, what I've been doing. I've been scaling back my social interaction, simplifying my presence, regaining some time and attentiveness. Living in the immediate surroundings. Being here now. Online life will take care of itself.

My prayer for anyone who's taken the time to read this is that they may have all the time they need to consider the world in which they live out the mundane life they have, and how the mundane and the sacred all collide for each of us in the simplest of events. Find the holy, and live in the sacred. Blessings to us all.