Our “BUSY” Lives
January 21, 2008
I must admit that even though I spent a good part of the day evaluating and grading homework essays and discussion board posts from my 6 + online classes it was a relatively relaxing and quiet day. The college was closed for Martin Luther King day and I was able to work at my own pace. It struck me how incredibly BUSY we are in this post-modern secular culture. How many people these days can step back and truly take a break from the constant demands of their jobs, families, friends and social (church) commitments. Has technology been a gift or a curse? There’s no doubt I work much harder now than I did 10 – 15 years ago before e-mail, cell phones, internet, instant messaging, voice mail, etc. I’m not sure why this is. Many other people tell me the same thing. I’m not sure if my quality of life has improved because of advances in technology. Sometimes I think I’m just spinning my wheels answering (or deleting) the countless e-mails I get. Sure…there is a lot of good things to be said for all the new ways we have to communicate to one another, BUT with that said, are we really communicating effectively or is it just a bunch of distracting noise that keeps us from living calmer, quieter, peaceful lives?
As I get older I want more peace and quite in my life. Less noise, chatter and chaos. It’s so easy to get caught up in the incredibly fast pace of modern American society. Personally I want to figure out ways to escape the constant noise of it all. There is something to be said about just sitting and being quite and listening to the gentle “voice ” within.
Food for thought this very cold Monday evening….
Do you remember our conversation about the Sound of Silence? I encourage everyone to listen to this song by Simon and Garfunkel. It really emphasizes how distant we, as human beings and a society, have become in terms of communication; modernistic, yet alien, at the same time.
Frankly, computers should be used as artificial reefs in the ocean. LOL
I am experiencing a LOVE/ HATE relationship with TECHNOLOGY at this point in my life Regina, although I’m well aware that I can’t do without it – can’t conduct my personal and professional business without it, YET I’m now stepping back after many years of being a huge proponent (advocate) of online education and harnessing the incredible power of the internet and digital technology in general to reassess the impact and effects these new modes of communication are having on our culture and personal sensibilities as human beings. I bought into these new and dynamic forms of communications and now I’m beginning to rethink my position and feelings concerning all things cyber and digital. I posted the Simon and Garfunckle video so we can take a moment and listen to the sounds of silence in this BUSY, NOISY, and CHAOTIC world we live in.
Patrick,
PLEASE learn the difference in the spellling of QUIET and QUITE!
Your photos are lovely and you write so emotively, then you misspell QUIET. It’s making me crazy!!
sorry Sherry. It is fixed now. Thanks for the hand slap