Friday, February 10, 2017

This Digital Life

I’m going on a digital vacation. I’m traveling hundreds of miles away from my safe space and leaving my phone and computer at home. I know what you’re thinking: That’s crazy! I know you’re thinking this because when I told people about this idea they all replied (in so many words): That’s crazy!

Actually, there were two reactions. There was: What if there’s an emergency? In which I replied: You do realize there was a time before Smartphones? A time called: All of human existence. Seriously, what if there’s an emergency? What did people do before Smartphones when there was an emergency? They dealt with it, that’s what they did. Plus, we do live in a digital world now. Certainly, in the case of an actual emergency, there will be people in the vicinity that have a Smartphone of their own. It’s not like I’m vacationing in Antarctica.

The second response was: How are you going to take pictures. Simple: I’m not going to. It turns out, you don’t have to take pictures of everything you do.

A short digital biography: My digital life was born three years ago. It started with a simple website, an unusual blog, and my entry into the world of Facebook. I didn’t go through digital puberty until October of 2016. That’s when I got my first Smartphone. In only four months I’ve become fixated on Instagram, Insta-news, podcasts, the stock market, and Tetris—all things that I never thought about before the Smartphone. Only four long months and I already feel it’s time for a digital vacation.

After some consideration, I’ve come to realize that this digital vacation can end in only three ways:

A) When I return, the Internet will no longer exist, which will affect everyone, but also means I’m a trendsetter.

B) My digital death. This means that I come to the conclusion that my digital-life is not worth my actual real-life time. Due to the psychological addiction of Smartphones, this will certainly become a thing in the near future. We will see the digital deaths of our friends, which is sad, because many of my closest friends are in the digital world. If I don’t come back, I would only hope that my digital friends give me the first ever digital funeral.

C) I return to my digital life and tell everyone all about my digital vacation. If that’s the outcome, I’ll see you next week…digitally, of course.



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