I was at a conference last week and the speaker asked if we knew what TGIF stood for. Thank goodness its Friday popped into my mind. That was not the correct answer in his mind. It stands for “Twitter, Google, iphone and facebook”. He says the world changed in 1973 with the creation of the cell phone and the “Gutenberg folks” born pre-1973 are a different breed than the Google folks who think text is a verb.
He may have overstated his case to get our attention (and some laughs) for it is certainly true that many of us Gutenberg folk use facebook and even blog, yet he was right that the world has changed and rather quickly, too. Though I like to read newspapers, I have also bought a smartphone to keep better in touch. Maybe it is a question of balance, staying connected and yet preserving moments of quiet reflection.
A Harvard study published in the journal Science suggested that meditation or mindfulness may even increase brain gray matter and boost mental alertness. Even with TGIF, there is always a need for quiet focused reflection. What do you think?
I’ll comment first on the invasiveness of technology. I have long had a bad habit of finishing other people’s sentences, speaking over their remarks, asking questions while they are still speaking …. the list goes on. I recognize that the behavior is rude and have often excused my self on the premise that my mind races ahead so quickly that I am often unable to reign it in.
Now there is on-line chatting and racing ahead with my thoughts and remarks is still a problem. Difference is, I can SEE it REAL TIME as I type a comment, send it, then begin typing again before receiving a response back. I notice that others do this as well … typing right over my thoughts as I am still forming then, not waiting for my reply before charging ahead with another question or their own brilliant observation. Wow! How annoying is that!
Ah, this brings me to the second of my comments. The practice of meditation fosters an attitude of being fully present with Other and with others. Waiting in the silence, anticipating a response, still waiting patiently until even no response is known to be a response.
If we could only manage to be fully present with one another in our chat rooms, Facebook posts, emails, tweets etc. We might actually be more present in our virtual places than we make time for in our real places.
DeaconGates