Is the internet the problem?

It's Digital Detox Week - and obviously - I am not participating.  A friend on Twitter brought the campaign to my attention last week and though I the concept was intriguing - I found myself seeing some real issues with it.

The page he linked to said the following:

When was the last time you left your cell phone at home? Do you have multiple email accounts that you can’t go a day without checking? Have you ever waited in paralyzing anxiety wondering if your Facebook comment has been read or if your emoticons were interpreted in the right way?

Now - to be honest - I thought my initial misgivings came from the idea of not having contact with my friend for a week ;-) ... but then I started to realize there was so much more to it than that.  Look at the situations listed above.  None of these activities indicate the ‘why’ ... why do we take our cell phone everywhere?  Why are we constantly checking our email?  Why do we think we are ‘addicted’ to the internet?

Let’s take a closer look ... why do people have their cell phones with them?  Some use them as an umbilical chord to the people in their lives.  Could they go without this constant contact?  Probably.  Is constant contact a problem?  Sometimes.  A lot of that would depend on the why of said contact - is it by choice or by a felt sense of ‘have to’ ... a fear of missing something or of ‘offending’ someone?

Then we have the email ... a whole other set of issues.  How much of the obsession in regards to checking the inbox comes from the leash you wear from work?  Are you expected to ‘be on call’ even when not there?  Why?  Or are you afraid of getting behind?  Obsessed with the whole ‘zero inbox’ mentality going on in the ‘productivity’ crowd?  Feel as though if you not ‘productive’ you are a ‘loser’?  Where is that written - and what is the definition of ‘productive’ ... or rather whose definition are you attempting to live up to?

If you are paralyzed with with anxiety about a response to a comment - I think the issue is something other than needing a ‘digital detox’ ...

So ... there’s the initial case - the response to the stated issue.  But even this isn’t what bothered me about the whole concept.  I will admit - taking a step back from the devices we seemingly have attached to ourselves may help to clarify some of these questions and may even provide some answers - if ... if those who walk away from their ‘addiction’ even see beyond the what to the why.  If what I see in the comments on the original page are any indication ... probably not.  In fact, the one I believe is from someone at Adbusters is indicative of my point - they say in part:

“I respectfully disagree. Technology itself is fine but in general is mixed up with some product pushed by some corporation. That corporation's goal is nothing short of getting you to consume as much as possible for as long as possible and to make as much peripheral income off of whatever information they gather from you via the consumption of said product.”

This isn’t just about what corporations are using these devices for - it’s what we are using these devices for and why ... and how we are influenced by the the messages we chose to allow into our lives.  I was shocked to discover that they have a new post ... one of their suggestions for dealing with ‘detox’ - stand naked in front of a mirror.  Seriously. 

Find a relatively busy place, stand still and do nothing for ten minutes. Observe what goes on within and without you. Take off your clothes and observe your body in the mirror. See it as naked for five minutes then see it as nude for five minutes. Before you eat your dinner, observe what’s on your plate for three minutes. Eat it without utensils. Walk for one hour – not in this city, not in this state, not in this country. Walk, rather, for one hour on the Earth without knowing in advance where you are going.

 So - what’s wrong with these suggestions?  By themselves - nothing.  Put into the context that we have been taken over by some evil outside force - everything.  Have we been taken over by some evil outside force?  And if we have - what means have been used?  Emotional manipulation?  Isn’t that what this is?  Another ad campaign - telling you what’s wrong with your life and here ... we have just the thing to cure it. 

Another blog discussing this ‘digital detox’ had this to say:

Computers and the internet have invaded my life to such a great extent that I can’t completely disconnect. Not even if I wanted to.

 So you’ve been poisoned, invaded, brainwashed and god only knows what else ... what do all of these have in common?  What is the underlying message here? 

I’ll admit that I may be ‘over reacting’ to some degree.  I’ve been known to do that on occasion.  But there is one thing that can send me to the ceiling in a heartbeat - it’s emotional manipulation.  Especially when I see seeming intelligent individuals ‘falling in line’ unquestioningly following the underlying message.  Yes, there are individuals who suffer from an actual ‘addiction’ to some aspect of online existence - but the general audience of this campaign don’t fit this description from what I can tell and many have at least semi-legitimate reasons for the use of their devices.

I recently listened to an episode of the C-Realm podcast - #253 Grasp The Nettle that covers this idea very well.  KMO interviews Neil Kramer, who has been featured on the podcast on several occasions.  It’s well worth a listen .. the following is a quote by Neil that fits nicely: “You don’t detach yourself by hiding, you detach yourself by reformulating your own perceptive apparatus.”

KMO begins by reading part of an essay - The Quants and The Poets by Paul Kingsnorth found on the Dark Mountain website.  Also worth looking into.  If advertising and marketing are at the root of our ills - the following quote embodies my misgivings with this 'campaign' completely ....

"Worlds are not saved by the same stories that are killing them .."

... and so

"...if you are a dreamer,a wisher, a liar - a hoper, a prayer, a magic bean buyer ..."

or

“A butcher.  A baker.  A candlestick maker.”

Hello ... come in - sit down .. this could take awhile ;-).

Okay ... let's us begin

Let me introduce myself ... I go by Xenophrenia.  Online at least.  Why Xenophrenia? ... well - I started out with Anomalie ... but often found it taken on whatever site I was signing up for.  Then, one day, while perusing the dictionary, I came across schizophrenia.  It was taken apart as schizo = split / phrenia = mind.  My mind wandered to the word xenophobia .. fear of strange/foreign people or things.  Xeno = strange / phrenia = mind ... I’ve been Xenophrenia ever since.

I have attempted to create a ‘blog’ for years now ... I’ve had sites of one sort or another since 1999 ... yeah ... can’t say I’ve been real successful with them ;-).  Why do I keep trying?  That’s a good question, actually and one I’ve decided to tackle head on this time around.  More or less ... we’ll see how successful I am.