Tune out, walk away

I’ve thought this many times, “It’s time to get offline and jump back into real life.” And, within moments of being offline I feel more relaxed. I start to think creatively again. I feel a bit smug and self-righteous. I feel more energized, as if all of the stops had been pulled. On the other hand, during those first few moments I am drawn to see what’s happening to “that post”, which irritates me. I’m addicted. What kind of comments are people posting? What am I missing? Am I missing anything, really? And in spite of the feeling of being more energized and creative, it usually takes hours and hours and hours for me to get over the urge to fire up the ole ’puter and see if I’ve missed anything. I’m hooked. I’m dependent. Indeed, the only thing I have missed is reality. I’ve truly missed just being myself. I do not identify with that person who sits on the couch scrolling through posts about how I could test myself for autism or ADHD or find out if I’m magnesium-deficient or if my pointer finger can touch my baby finger to prove I’m remarkable and, hey, that achy shoulder of mine could be the symptom of a rare tumour. Indeed, I am that person, but I do have a hard time believing it’s really who I’ve become. But here I am. I’m the eye-strained, social-mediadependent person who just told herself, “Once I’ve looked up the article about probiotics and constipation, or whatever, then I’ll close the laptop and do something real, like finish the painting, or bake some bread, or tidy up the yard.” I am that person.

The interesting thing is most of us oldsters really and truly believe it’s just the young people who spend far too much time in front of a screen. But I’ve made a point of having a look around—it isn’t the kids. As I’m walking home from the gym I often see a few large tangles of teenagers heading into “town” on their lunch break. Most of them are laughing, jostling, running, shouting, singing, running a bit more and, generally, just being hormone—charged kids. Hardly any of them are up to their nostrils in a cell phone. And when I’m actually in the gym, quite a few of the people there are very much into their devices. Let’s face it, those gym-goers are not teenagers. They might be texting, looking up workouts or scrolling through media sites between sets and reps, but they aren’t teenagers. And if I’m in a restaurant, it isn’t the kids asking the staff if there’s “wifi”. I realize a lot of gym-goers use their devices to play their workout music. I get it. I listen to my now-ancient iPod at the gym. We love being connected, but unless it’s urgent or for your workout tunes, why do we need to have our phones two inches from the Smith machine? And, why are we, the adults, blind to our own behaviours. Adults are obsessed with how much time a child spends in front of a screen, and many studies have been done to measure the negative effects of that behaviour. Online/screen time guidelines have been established— for children. However, not much has been done with regard to screen time for adults. However, before and during the pandemic a study of adults was conducted and on average adults were spending about ten hours per day looking at screens. Some of those hours were during a workday, but the online time didn’t stop once the “adults” got home. And then?

Well, and then I did a bit of snooping around (yes, online!) and figured out I am an adult who spends too much time online. I don’t have a real job, so I can’t lay the blame at the feet of my employer. But I have all of the symptoms of “too much screen time” and none of them require a visit to an Emergency Department or a consultation with a medical expert. I have trouble getting to sleep and my eyes often feel like sandpaper. I have a pain in my neck—and it isn’t LOML. I used to spend a lot of time hiking, walking and just being out-of-doors, but thank goodness the gym and the grocery store are within walking distance of my laptop and the couch else I’d probably never get outside. I have what I lovingly refer to as my pandemic paunch, but seriously, that is so two years ago. It seems I might snack a bit while surfing and commenting and looking things up. My hearing seems to be impaired because I don’t hear half of what LOML tells me when I’m online.

Time to turn the notifications off, pack up the snacks, fluff up the couch cushions and find my walking shoes. I’m going out!

theresa@wellingtontimes.ca