The Importance of Disconnecting

As technology improves at what seems like a monthly basis, it is important to remember two things.  1.) it is important in today's society and 2.) it is important to step away occasionally.  Yes, there are drawbacks to having this instant access, but there is also upside.  It is nice to know what is going on in the world at any given moment, but it creates this addiction to instant information.  Which can be harmful at times.  Or just downright frustrating.  I mean, how many times have we seen a news story retracted or revised because not all the facts are out or right, but the story is already all over the internet?  

This is not only the lifestyle that the younger generations are growing up with, it is the lifestyle that the older generations have to adapt to.  By the time the evening news is reporting a story that happened in the early afternoon, it's already considered an old story.  If something happened at noon on a Tuesday, by three o'clock, all the details have come out and we are on to the next new story.  You have to keep up or you are left in the news dust.  

It's funny how older generations look at the younger generations right now in the way that they are always on their phones.  They look at them as though they are disconnected from the world, whereas they are more connected than the previous generation.  We no longer have to wait for the 5:00 news to find out what is happening.  We can make fun of people taking selfie after selfie after selfie all we want, but they carry in the palm of their hands, instant access to everything everywhere and any given moment.  It allows them to have that instant connection, and with that, more awareness of worldly events.  They can know what is going on in Switzerland if they want.  So even though they are staring at their phone screens all day long, they could be keeping up on current events.  Either that or they are reading list posts from Buzzfeed.  Is this a good thing though?  Personally, I spend most of my lunch break on my phone.  Reading articles, catching up on Facebook and Twitter.  It allows me to know what is going on.  Even though I work pretty early in the morning, the world still turns and important things are still happening.

With all that said, it is important to disconnect from it all.  Let's face it, we live in a pretty fucked up society, and terrible stories are what a lot of the media thrive upon.  When was the last time you watched the news and they only reported stories that made you happy?  When was the last time you went through a news site that didn't have at least two articles written about an awful story?  With all this instant access and continual updates, it can wear on you mentally.  Find a topic that you are interested in.  Read all about it.  Continue to read all about it.  How much is too much?  How long before anything that you are reading isn't sinking in?  It's like going to a lecture.  How much information can you take in before you stop hearing anything that is being said.  Same holds true for what you read.  How many stories of bombings in the Middle East can you read before it just turns into 'another story'.  How many stories of innocent people being killed by police can you read before you start forgetting their names? 

Sure, you can step away from it all for an hour or two, but what good would that do for you?  I suppose it depends on how much you can take in.  Whenever I go home for vacation, I always feel refreshed by the time I get back to work.  It's because I have minimum stress on vacation.  Everyone needs to do that with the internet too.  Take a few days off.  Stay off social media.  Stay away from the shit storm that is the world.  Pick up a book and forget about it all.  It is important for your mental health.  Even if you don't think you need to, do it.  Stop hitting the refresh button on your browser and it the power off button instead. 

Fall of the Umpires

Instant replay is destroying sports.  There is no beating around the bush on this one.  I know that everyone wants to see the right calls, but it takes away the human element of the game.  Right now, the sports world is up in a tizzy over last night's Cleveland/New York game in which a Yankee outfielder dove into the stands and came up with his glove as if he had the ball for the final out of an inning.  The umpire called the out only to find out after the game that the player didn't have the ball and it ended up in the stands.  Two things needed to happen on that play.  The ump needed to check the player's glove for the ball.  He said it himself.  After the game, he admitted it.  The other thing that happened was the player should have been honest.  He acted like he made the catch, held his glove up, and ran into the dugout.  Two people are at fault because the smaller things didn't happen.  So because of this, there is major outcry for expanded replay.  There should be an outcry for players to be more honest, but that won't happen.

I like the human element of the officials in the sport.  It gives something for fans to rally against.  Everyone hates umpires/refs.  Their calls give fans something to argue about.  And yes, instant replay can quell arguments, but isn't that what sports is all about?  Imagine if the 'Immaculate Reception' never happened because it was overturned by instant replay.  That catch is on every highlight reel when it comes to great plays or crazy plays.  Harris had a Hall of Fame career regardless of that catch, but when you say his name, you think of that play.  A couple of years ago, you would not have found anyone screaming louder or with more expletives for instant replay when Jim Joyce blew the Armando Galarraga perfect game*.  After simmering down, I knew that if they had used instant replay would take away the umpires' credibility.  Another thing that allowed me get away from plotting the demise of Joyce was the professionalism of all parties involved.  Galarraga especially.  I may get chastised by other Tigers fans, but I am a fan of the sport as well.  Not just a team.  

I know most everyone would have agreed with the overturning of that particular call if they had used instant replay, but what about those who want the human element to stay in the game?  The human element is part of the game.  Instant replay is a slippery slope.  Eventually the home plate ump is going to be replaced by a machine that calls balls and strikes.  We already have it with different television stations having their strike zones or K zones they show on each pitch.  What's to stop Major League Baseball from implementing that technology into the game?  They can just have a mini strike zone screen that the players can see to keep track of the count.  There won't be anymore 'painting the corner' for pitches.  No more home calls.  No more different size strike zones from ump to ump.

The umpires give us a reason to really watch the game.  They give us a reason to yell at the television in a drunken rage.  Umpires and refs are the supporting cast to the game.  There aren't many times you will find me siding with the establishment, but this is one of those times.

Social Media Compliments and Complaints

After getting a Facebook account, I thought that it would be the only social media that I would use.  After MySpace faded into oblivion (does it even exist anymore?), Facebook was the end all be all for connecting with people.  It was a great way to keep in touch with friends and family living in different parts of the country and sometimes world.  With picture updates, you got to go on vacations vicariously with them.  Then, shit got weird.

Maybe weird isn't the right word, but it has gotten to the point where it is mostly filled with personal problems and drama.  It's like high school for the twenty first century.  For the longest time, Facebook was fun because people's statuses were for the most part entertaining to read and comment on.  Then you get people typing up statuses fishing for sympathy or wanting to get tons of comments.  I'm not saying that I will stop using Facebook or delete a ton of people (again), it's just not as great as I thought it once was.  It's all the tweeking and tinkering that they do to improve the site.  Yes, some things have made it better and easier to work with and see what is going on.  But there are times when these improvements don't do jack and we are all left wondering what the point of it was. 

I know it isn't any better, but Twitter has come around and it just seems so much more simple and fun that Facebook.  The best thing that it has going for it is the one hundred and forty character limit.  You only have a little bit of space to air out dirty laundry or personal drama.  It's great.  You don't find yourself scrolling through an album of two hundred pictures of a trip that a friend took.  A tweet consists of one picture unless they feel like tweeting two hundred times, which is possible I suppose.  I have gotten to a point where Twitter is the first thing I check these days and not Facebook.

These social media sites fine, but they never replace talking with friends face to face.  How much better is it to go out and grab a beer with a friend than it is to chat with them online?  You hear their laughter, see their reactions to stories about what is going on in your life, and can know that the conversation is engaging.  Catching up with friends in person leaves you feeling reconnected.  Ending a conversation online is just another moment on the internet.

Scary commercial

Has anyone else seen the new Motorola Razr that refers to the phone being more 'self aware'?  Here it is if you haven't.  Okay, show of hands, who else does that freak out?  Hopefully anyone that has seen any of the Terminator movies had their hands shoot up in the air before they realized what was going on. 

Maybe it is because I just watched Terminator Salvation the other day, but seriously it's freaky that Motorola would advertise their phone like that.  And maybe they want it to be as a sort of wink at the movie series.  With that said, technology is slowly taking over the world and everyone knows it.  Think about all the electronics you carry with you on a daily basis.  Cell phone.  Ipod or Ipad.  Laptop for work maybe?  Everyone at one point or another has said something close to the following:  'I don't know what I would do if I didn't have my *fill in the blank*.' 

It's so nice to have a phone with you at all times and be connected twenty four hours a day if need be, but how long can you go without your cell phone?  It's always nice to disconnect from the world but it is awfully difficult to do so for long periods of time because we have become so use to having instant communication whenever it is needed.

So maybe the machines haven't risen against us (yet), but they control our lives more than some would like to admit.  I have no problem admitting that.  I actively check Facebook during the day.  I'm on Twitter (@Litzner).  I just recently got a smart phone (I held out as long as I could).  And obviously, there's My Own Manifesto.  Everyone needs to disconnect every once in a while.




And if you can't, just sit tight, John Conner is on his way to save you.  

Life without cable

We went about a month without cable television.  And you know what?  I didn't really miss it.  Well, there were some aspects of it that I missed, but all in all, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would have been.  It's not like I sat in the corner in the fetal position because I was missing a show or a sporting event, but I was also looking forward to watching some stuff and then had an 'oh wait' moment.

It wasn't that big of a deal when we were down in Wichita because it just came with the apartment (one of the benefits of living in a nicer place) and it was always there.  We got accustom to having it and the shows we found and loved.  Up here in Woodbury, we're in a cheaper place and one thing that we have to pay for is the cable.  One of the problems you come to realize when you try to save money on a place you live is that you give up some nicer things.  Such as having a washer and dryer.  So instead of having a washer and dryer in the apartment, we have to pay through the nose for the cleaning of our clothes.  Thanks cheap apartment complex!  Maybe we should look into a laundromat.  Don't know if it would be cheaper, but what could it hurt?  

We debated on whether or not to get the cable, but in the end we found a cheapish deal for internet and cable so we went with it.  Once again, it's not like we needed it, it's just nice to have because you can only watch so many PBS specials before you start to need something mind numbing like a sporting event.  So it's nice to have again just to feel connected to the world again.  There is a little part of me that just wants to get rid of it all together, but what would be the point?  Maybe it would lead to reading more books?  Doubtful.  I think I would still flip through the channels looking for something to watch. 





It would just take less time because there would be less channels. 

The great disconnect

While we were celebrating Dad's retirement at the cabin last weekend, I made it a point not to have my phone on.  It was some of the better four day spans in recent times.  Not having to check my phone because I thought I heard it ring or vibrate, not having to look to see what time it was by grabbing my phone, not having to worry about it at all.  It was just a nice disconnect from the world.  The other thing I was away from was the internet.  And you know what, I didn't miss it that much.

The way our lives and the world is now, we are connected all the time.  I laughed at my brother several times because even though he was on vacation, he still was doing work having to take phone calls from some of the morons that he works with.  Granted, he is going to get a full day's worth of vacation time back because he did spend close to eight hours over the course of the week on the phone doing work, but that is still time that he set aside to come home and escape from the working world.  I don't have a job that demands that kind of responsibility, which is nice.  I didn't have a care in the world for the four days we were at the cabin.  I find myself thinking more and more about using the internet less and less.  I shouldn't say 'using' the internet less and less, I should say 'being on' the internet less and less.  It's a time killer for sure.  Facebook is nice, but I find myself checking up on it two or three times a day.  I want to get away from that dependence to see what everyone is doing every waking hour.

I will still write as much as possible, but instead of going from useless website to useless website, I may read a book or go for a walk, or explore the city we are going to be moving to in August.  It's time to get out and enjoy the world.  Take a look in the mirror.  How much time to spend looking around the internet?  Can some of that time be spent reading a book or going for a bike ride?  Maybe it's time to take up a new hobby?  Have you ever wanted to learn how to change the oil in your car?  What about basket weaving, or maybe underwater basket weaving?  Take some time to better yourself and get away from the glow of the screen and the lure of the internet.







What are you waiting for?