In the age of technology, it’s important to acknowledge how much you are shaped by your complicity in the digital revolution. The fast-paced evolution of high-tech gadgets, the environment created by omnipresent phones, instant messaging, and social media, and the inundation you experience every day by an avalanche of information all impact your life and your identity in significant ways.
As you encounter unprecedented challenges, distractions, and dilemmas, virtual reality becomes a new source of stress. Your life in cyberspace demands a great deal of attention and creates pressure to learn skills for simultaneously navigating online and offline connections.
You’re used to putting people on pause as you multitask, often feeling distracted by conversations with others or by the projects you are supposed to be working on. You struggle to define reasonable behavior in spite of practically nonexistent social etiquette in virtual communication. The public sphere and the private sphere are becoming nearly indistinguishable, and you lose your sense of distinct identity.
This is a problem.
The use of technology gives opportunities while taking away others. The very thing giving an easier way to communicate with your loved ones makes it more difficult to carve out time for real, deep conversations and connections. It distracts so much that you miss opportunities to deeply explore yourself and others.
Consider your life in the context of the digital age. Where are you? Where are you going? Is this someplace you want to go? If not, where do you want to be? Are you dependent on technology? How does social media impact your relationships with others, and more importantly your relationship with yourself?
“Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.”
Read more on the Digital Age blog series.
