If all goes well July 4 I’ll be celebrating freedom.
Not with a plate filled with asada, brats, spare ribs and coleslaw, or a beach chair parked somewhere in the dark waiting for fireworks to explode. But at home. Quietly. Peacefully. Mind wandering in any direction it chooses rather than following where it’s being surreptitiously led by technology.
On independence day I’ll be making an effort to stay away from my phone, my laptop, tablet and any other device that has me and millions of other people plugged in to the internet and the world at-large.
I’ll be free of the notifications, alerts, messages, videos, posts and general noise that has become the soundtrack of day-to-day life in a socially-connected, plugged-in world.
In theory disconnecting from electronic devices and social networks can be done any time, anywhere. But in practice the challenge of our own making has become nearly insurmountable.
From traffic reports to flex and Amber alerts we’ve created a world in which we need to be electronically connected to know what’s happening around us and how we’ll be affected.
This country’s Independence Day seem like the right time to take a stand against the tyranny of being attached and addicted to our computer screens and smartphones. For the sake of my mental health I’ll wake up and log off July 4.
Well, I can do that after I check out the news websites on my phone given that the holiday falls on a Tuesday this year and the printed Sunday edition of the local paper obviously won’t be available, and electronic subscriptions are the only way I can afford access to the New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and the U-T.
But then I can turn of my devices for the day.
On second thought I’ll want to send text messages to all my family and friends making sure I’m not expected anywhere but if they need anything to text me and I’ll see what I can do. So on second thought I’ll keep my phone on. But I won’t use the internet.
Except to take a peek at the beach webcams and check out the weather and the surf and after that eyeball traffic conditions to see what’s the latest I can get on the road if I decide to relax at the beach. And if I go to the beach then I’ll need sunscreen. I’ll need to check websites for store holiday hours. But after that I’ll probably log off and unplug. Maybe.
