Kimberly Weber
A typical evening with intentions of being productive often include the safe amount of mediated company of both a human and Netflix. By safe I mean, adding these elements with consideration of how distracting they are – determined by their familiarity. I hang out with my best friend who is a painter and always has something on TV, like a comical series or stand up, that doesn’t require too much attention to enjoy and that can be easily tuned out and back in without feeling like you’ve missed much. So, I come over to his house and there are a lot of bright lights on for his painting, a Netflix series playing on his wall from a projector, and he’s in front of a large canvas and painting an image from a large computer screen. I nestle into a cozy space and open my computer and begin looking through emails and assignments. I feel completely comfortable and am easily able to get into a grove. It seems as though every 15 minutes or so we take a break and check our phones. Not necessarily checking because of a notification, but more so just to take a break from the thing we are working on. Often, it’s a scroll session; looking and seemingly searching but not sure what for. Nonetheless, it gets found. Something funny, or interesting enough to share or respond to online gives that satisfaction of accomplishment. I have found what I didn’t know I was searching for. We talk about it while slowly getting back to what we were working on until we refocus on our main priorities.
This cycle goes on through the night, not exactly the same way each time but similarly. Sometimes a random thought comes first for one or the other, which starts the break that leads to the scrolling or maybe the show playing in the background is suddenly climaxing or a funny situation happens that catches some attention that then begins the break that leads to the scrolling. I gained a lot of information from this experience. News about the coronavirus, the impeachment hearings, interesting inventions, updates about family and friends’ lives, silly facts, exposure to situations I’d otherwise never see. Not all of it is valuable or useful but it’s comforting and helps me to simultaneously do what I really want.
Generally, I do spend a good deal of time outdoors. I split my time for other activities with being outside if its comfortable enough, and a lot of my favorite activities are outdoor things anyway. However, when dedicating an hour to being in a natural setting with no anthropogenic audio-visual information present, I realized I almost never am completely away from technology. I live in a decently secluded area for how developed Fairfax county is. My house is about 3 miles into a narrow, 50 mph, two-way road with houses sparsely along either side. Across from my house is a trail sometimes used by horseback riders. I chose to take a walk without my phone on this trail and since it’s a pretty long it took a little over an hour. I have run and taken my dog for a walk and gone on a picnic along this trail many times but never paid much attention to the few signs that were out there. I never knew how long it way until I notices a small marker at a fork that said 1.2mi and 1.6mi. I chose the longer path since I was dedicated to spending time out there. I kept having the feeling of jumping thoughts at first. Thinking about assignments coming up, my next bar shift, if I had to do laundry, what to eat when I got back, making plans with people, what would happen if I got attacked out there. They weren’t random, they were relevant thoughts, but they were springing up in random order it seemed. But as I continued along, they slowed down. Each thing I was thinking about became deeper with detail and longer to move to the next thing. The connection between one thought to the next was also more obvious and direct. Thinking about a concert I was going to soon and then remembering the last one I went to and then thinking about that person I was with and remembering plans we made for something totally different. There was more flow internally. I also encountered the realization of which direction I was walking by noticing that the sun was setting. Making that connection to where my house is, and whether or not is was south facing because I recalled that is the best for solar panels.
Bill McKibben wrote “it alters perception. TV, and the culture it anchors, masks and drowns out the subtle and vital information contact with the real world once provided”, and I feel that is exactly what I experienced. Two different forms of multitasking and processing information were happening. There is a natural greed for new things and more things that humans have and I felt that when I noticed how much information I wanted at once and in different forms, constantly. When I was without media giving me the easily digestible information right to my attention, I was still in a way taking in new information but it was my own doing which made it more directly useful. I think this experience allowed me to learn that reconnecting with nature is more useful than just for its aesthetic or spiritual or healthy pleasures. It gives you a sort of reboot into how you operate as a human who is constantly processing information.