"Unmoved by the digital tricks and algorithms"
"Unmoved by the digital tricks and algorithms"
by Stephen Jackson
As a parent of 3 young children, there has never been a time when the smartphone was not a part of our home. It pains me to write this, but from the birth of our first child, the little black supercomputer of a phone was there, taking pictures, sending text messages, and stealing our attention. As a young family living in a rural town in southwest Virginia, we have the best nature has to offer right outside our front door, yet we also have the worst big tech has to offer within the walls of our home. We have resisted the iPad but my wife and I still have iPhones, MacBooks, and there is a television in the living room. I wish we didn’t have any of those in our home.
I have tried technique after technique to limit their use, such as leaving the iPhones in the car, committing to leaving MacBooks at work, even going so far as to throwing away a television for dramatic effect! But time and time again, they have crept back in and the devices are an ever-present part of the daily rhythms in our home. Even as I write this now, I face the simple question, why not just get rid of them all? Downgrade the iPhone to a flip-phone, remove the television, and trade in the MacBook for a desktop computer that literally has to sit on the desk at work? Can you imagine bringing the desktop iMac home everyday?
Getting rid of the devices would remove the temptations, however I have realized that what I long for is to live differently not just without the devices, but to live with a greater level of discipline and self mastery in how I engage with the devices. I want to have the discipline to use the iPhone the same way you would use a landline phone. I want the discipline to go weeks without watching television because I’m playing with my children, writing, reading, exploring outside, working with my hands, etc.
I’ve begun to set my intentions towards these goals, and recently stumbled upon something that I believe might work for me and gives me a great sense of satisfaction. The other day as I was exiting my vehicle and was about to shut the door (with the iPhone left inside) I heard the famous “ding” of a notification from the phone. I could feel the desire to check the notification as the door closed, but very quickly another thought followed, a thought of “what if when I heard the ‘ding' my brain didn’t want to find out what it was, but rather just passed over it, moved right along as if it was nothing more than just a normal part of the day, just a noise registering in my consciousness." That thought brought a smile to face, gave me a sense of pride as the door closed, made me walk with greater confidence as the notification sat there unanswered and I walked into our little community pool where my children were swimming.
That’s the kind of life I want to live. Unmoved by the digital tricks and algorithms. A life where the tech is there, available, but I’m not enslaved to it. A life where I walk past the television day after day and look at it like it’s a lamp! A life where the technology serves its purposes when its abilities can enhance my human experience. Most of the time though, such as at when you are at the community swimming pool, that human experience won’t involve a black screened device.
Thank you for the opportunity to contribute! Your work is so inspiring! We are trying to live life differently. I wish the invasion of tech into our lives had never happened, but as Frodo expressed his own wish that the ring had never passed to him, I desire the perspective of Gandalf, so beautifully penned by Tolkien; “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what do with the time that is given to us.”
Best,
Stephen Jackson
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