Technology, Our Achille's Heel?

For the past 5 days I've been without internet, and cable. My window to the outside world was crippled. Only through my Smartphone was I able to check-in on my usual social media accounts, and that of itself is something I've tried hard to avoid. Dependency upon the smartphone is the last thing I want given where it's headed in relations to tyrannical one world governance. That's a topic for another day though. Today I want to discuss with you how hard it is to live without technology after having become so reliant on it's everyday usage. 

As a man who likes to stay up to date on the political happenings of the week, and new industry news losing the internet was like being plunged into a dark age. I don't say that in a melodramatic tone either. It was seriously like being without light or electricity. The services provided through tech devices like my PC, and television were my only access points to the world outside of my home. I jokingly said to my family that we wouldn't even know if WWIII kicked off, because of the predicament. Jokingly, but half knowing it wasn't far from the truth. 

For five days I browsed the apps on my Smartphone trying to keep pace with what was going on. The problem with this is that such a task on such a small device is both bothersome, and an inconvenience. Having to constantly recharge the draining battery due to the energy used to run the apps I was left with no other choice, but to come up with some other busy work. I cleaned house, took the occasional nap, and played video games offline on my PS5. In the evenings I watched a DVD from my collection with the fam, and beyond that little else was accomplished. I was missing my Dopamine fix, BAD ...

I could have been typing up a new review. I could have been engaging with my followers on Elon's new "X" app. I could have been doing so many things that required online access, but I couldn't, and it sucked nuggets. I know what you're thinking too. First world problems, Brad. Sadly, as much as I'd like to agree with you on that the world we know is ruled by the world wide web. The information super highway. Every facet of living has some connection to that online digital world, and unavoidably so. It is perhaps this very thing that has got us to where we are with the looming digital ID, and soon to be tyrannical surveillance state. It is the thing that turns the cogs of societal living down to the working all the way to the dying. If we had lived all our lives like the Amish none of this would be an issue though. None of it. 

The question begging to be asked, in light of all this, is this. Do we, as a modern society, have the capability to live off the grid and freely so if we are so dependent upon technology? I believe the answer to that is, NO. A resounding no. We've been borne and bred into a technocratic society that relies upon us using it for the services therein to benefit us. Lopping us in a cycle of enslavement to a system that sees us as numbers in a government catalog. It is a symbiotic relationship, and highly inseparable at this stage. It would take a literal lifetime of lifestyle readjustment just to be able to maintain a life devoid of technology. Moreover, most of us wouldn't be willing to give up the luxuries of a technology driven life, if we were to be honest. We've come to value convenience too much to revert to old ways. Even I would find it hard to let go of what I've grown accustom to. 

As I type this final closing paragraph, a feat made possible by the internet, I offer this advice ... Touch grass. Take some time out of each day to detach from the technological trappings of the digital world, and engage in conversations in person with real life people. Read a book, and learn ways in which you can manually do what you would have otherwise done with the aide of tech devices. Start small, and work your way up to a self-sustaining place where you don't need the convenience, and where that dopamine fix isn't even a thought to cross your mind. I believe, in the very near future, we'll all have to make a big decision. Do we become slaves to technology and tyrants or do we brave the wilds as our ancestors did, and find a healthier way of living life? That is a hard to answer question that both you and I will face in due time ...

Photo by Soumil Kumar