I had to applaud when I read the headline in an article that appeared in the May 23, 2024, edition of The Wall Street Journal: "Even Advertisers Are Telling You To Get Off Your Smartphone."
Those who more or less regularly read what I write in this daily blog will not be surprised to learn that I am not a fan of "life lived by cellphone." Teaching a class on "Privacy, Technology, And Freedom," which I did for about ten years, sensitized me to the subject.
Immersing ourselves in an "alternate reality," accessed online, removes us from the "real world" - or it seems to, anyway. We are, in fact, ultimately located in the "World of Nature," upon which the "Human World," which we ourselves create, is ultimately dependent. The "online" universe, a completely human creation, may seem to offer an escape; it may seem to be a "better place." Unfortunately, though, that online world is ultimately promising something that it can't deliver.
As The Journal article points out, the "grimmer reality" of our immersion in the online world, which we access most typically by using our phones, is not, in the end, very satisfying. This is one reason that "the U.S. dropped off the list of the world's 20 happiest countries."
So, as the picture above intimates, drop the phone, look around, and take the suggestions of those who have figured out that the online world is a dead end for the human spirit. Hinge, a popular "dating app," is now advising its users to consider "unplugging." Hinge's suggestions: "bird-watching," "reading," and "lying in a park doing nothing."
That sounds like a pretty good program to me - but let me add another idea or two: "Find Some Friends, "Join A Club" (I don't mean online), and get involved in "politics." There is nothing inevitable about that "grimmer reality" that The Wall Street Journal is discussing in that article I have linked!
Getting involved in "politics," my specific suggestion, really means "running the world."
That, too, is lots of fun!
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