Views From The New Normal

by Laurie Allee

In what has to be the biggest irony of 2020 for me, the very digital devices that were causing so much isolation, distraction and harmful addiction are now the ones bringing us closer together, helping us focus our goals and protecting us from illness.  The internet, in a way, has become humanity's central nervous system, and our devices are a lifeline to the in-person world now largely out of reach.  

I'm not even sure when the crisis is past that we will ever go back to eschewing real life for online simulation.  Something profound and life-changing is happening as a side effect of this global pandemic, revolutionary uprising and financial crisis.   We're finding out how much we really need each other.  We're realizing the scope of our structural failures, demanding not only justice but a complete system overhaul.  We're seeing how much more fragile, transient and brief this time on earth turns out to be.   

Instead of removing us from real life, our devices are now keeping us in touch with what's real.  

Digital technology is the new Analog.  

More thoughts on this coming soon.

Analog in the time of COVID19... Coming Soon

by Laurie Allee

The coronavirus crisis has changed the way we live our lives, making onscreen connection often our only connection with friends and family not huddled inside with us.

I've been thinking about this.

Stay tuned.  New post, videos and ideas coming late spring/early summer, 2020.  In the mean time, take care of your health -- physical and mental.  Safely seek natural surroundings, sunlight and simple things.  Reach out to loved ones in your home as well as those we can now see only through technology.  Make sure to avoid internet overload and despair. 

I'll be back.

Trees that Hug Back

By Laurie Allee

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Celebrating the many benefits of forest bathing...

Occasionally I stumble upon something so obvious it seems revolutionary:

In a tech dystopia, we need to connect more with trees.  

Maybe you can relate...

Away from Keyboard: Embracing Slow Tech

by Laurie Allee

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So I've been offline a lot in the last few weeks.  While I think I can say I've successfully relegated my phone back to the status of a phone instead of a tiny monitor that never leaves the palm of my hand, I still feel the siren call of the internet when I'm working on my computer.  

And I have to work on my computer.  

Disconnecting to Reconnect

by Laurie Allee
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The mixed blessing of deleting my accounts...

Have you cut back on social media and noticed a weird reaction from friends and family?  Now, before I continue, let's get one thing straight: if you are proselytizing digital minimalism to people, then I understand their blowback.  There's nothing more annoying than someone ranting at you to do something a certain way.  Nobody wants a lecture about social media or phones. (They don't want one about politics, religion or child rearing, either.)  

I'm talking about the gut reaction from people when you mention you've quit Facebook or decided to put down your phone.  There's an undeniable defensiveness that comes out, and I think it's so strange.


Here's a sample of the kind of things I regularly hear:   

Unplugged

Come out from behind the screen!

by Laurie Allee

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See my Life Analog introductory post here.

Phone junkie me.

When I first realized I might need to rethink my relationship with technology, I took baby steps.  You know what I mean: I only checked Instagram ONCE an hour instead of repeatedly, every few minutes.  I waited maybe five minutes after getting up to check Twitter, instead of taking the phone into the bathroom with me.  I put the phone on my nightstand instead of cradling it to sleep.  I mean, come on, I didn't have a problem.  I wasn't one of those phone people.  I could actually get through a dinner with someone by just sideways glancing at the phone on the table as notifications came in.  It wasn't like I picked it up.  (Well, not much.) 



I really thought I was just fine...