Topic: Slowing the Mind
Modern technology and conveniences seem to have everyone in a hurry. Over the last couple hundred years, society in general has sped up. This in turn has caused many people's minds to speed up, to match the pace of events. Is this evolution? I don't think so. In my experience, this speeding up of things has given me more problems than solutions. My thoughts are constantly scattered, my attention span can be counted in seconds on one hand, and focus on a particular task for a reasonable amount of time is often near-impossible. Sounds like ADD, doesn't it? Yes, because I'm certain that ADD is caused by exactly what I've just described. But drugs like ritalin aren'tt the answer. The answer, simply, is to avoid the source of this problem. I don't know how many of you meditate, but that may help these symptoms. I don't meditate. I can't, I find it too boring.
The thing is, I know our minds weren't made to work this way. We weren't meant to multitask five different things at once. It causes anxiety, and a need to always be "doing," rather than just "being." I know I'm not alone in this feeling. Many of you have probably had an urgent feeling that you should be doing something -- anything! -- when just trying to sit and relax for a while. In extreme cases, it feels like guilt. This is that rush, rush, rush impulse instilled in our minds by the fast pace of society. Next time you're in a hurry to get somewhere or do something, genuinely think about WHY. Sometimes haste is appropriate. Maybe someone is hurt or injured, or someone has some basic need to be fulfilled. But often the reason will come from a programmed STS agenda.
For a second, let me sidetrack here to tell a pertinent story about my vacation last year. I spent a week on a tropical island in the Caribbean. All I cared about that whole week was getting a tan and sipping pina coladas on the beach. For most of the locals, life is hard; for tourists, it's a hedonistic paradise. But to both groups, the vibe was the same: Take it slow, take it easy, and relax. When I first arrived there, I had a very difficult time adjusting to this mindset. I wanted to rush around, doing this and that, making sure I did everything I wanted to do each day. But slowly and surely, my consciousness shifted. As I talked to more of the locals, I kind of soaked in their perspective. Life is very slow on that island. People take care of one thing at a time. I began to adjust to the vibe, I began to slow my mind down. As the end of the week approached, I was "doing" less and less each day. The effect of this was, the days seemed to pass quicker, but every experience was richer because my mind slowed down to enjoy it. I took in the subtle feelings of each moment, and for the first time in my life I truely felt in touch with nature.
A funny thing about that island... there was not a computer in sight. No internet, no email, no instant messaging. I had terrible computer withdrawal for the first couple days of my vacation. But by the end of the trip I hoped I'd never see a computer again. And when I came home to my apartment, and booted up the PC, an unforgettable feeling came over me. Sitting there using that computer suddenly felt like the most unnatural, inhuman thing to do. I'll never forget that, because sitting there in front of the computer was a complete turn-about from the mindset I had while away, living for a short time in touch with nature.
Anyway, getting back to the main point... I think computers, along with all the other techno-gadgets we play with, have a huge impact on our mental health, moreso than we concede to. Our minds are programmed to do a few different things at once -- ah, the convenience of multitasking! Thank you Microsoft. The multitasking state then carries over in our mind to other things, when not sitting in front of the PC. When you're away from the computer, doing whatever, the length of events tends to be outside your control. But when using the PC, you are in control of how long any task or event remains in your focus. So as we become "proficient" at using the PC, we're essentially reprogramming the length of our attention span from click to click. The faster you click from window to window, the shorter it becomes. And though we can't control the length of real-life events, our minds tend to stick with the state of multitasking outside the computer "environment.". As a result, when we're doing whatever in real-life, our focus is anywhere but on what we're doing.
So an ongoing goal I have is to slow my mind down. Not slow my thinking, but slow that multitasking-esque race of thoughts. I've found that correcting a short attention span and poor focus takes tremendous effort without avoiding the source of the problem (which I see as all this fast-paced technology). After concentrating on one task for a while, the anxiety creeps in and becomes too much. Quickly changing stimuli seem to fulfill a sort of urge for mental excitement. It's like an addiction, and one that I hope to cure.
JK (you said it yourself: "thank you micro$oft")
