Analog Day

Ik zag toevallig vandaag op een weblog van de Amerikaanse schilder Terry Miura, dit stukje tekst:

Yesterday I declared an "analog day", meaning no computer, no tv, no dvd, no video games, and no cellphone. No digital media, basically. We try to do this each Sunday and it's wonderful. It was really difficult the first couple of times–it made us painfully aware just how much of our daily lives is dependent on digital media. We don't think twice about waking up in the morning and sitting down in front of the computer with a hot cup of coffee, to check email, Facebook, blogs, and whatever else our lives are connected to. And when that's taken away, we have to reevaluate not only how to enjoy our cup of morning coffee, but just how entrenched our lives are in this continuous flow of information. All day we had to fight the urge to check email, to see what our family and friends are doing, and the latest news in world affairs or hollywood or whatever. We felt disconnected, and had a hard time figuring out what to do with our time. Chores get done, yes, but what to do in-between chores?

Feeling completely disconnected is disorienting, to say the least. And we're not even out camping or anything. The devices are sitting right there, tempting us every second. Very difficult. But after a while, we began to relax. Strange thing, I started to remember the way things were before all this technology came into our lives and how great it was when life was simpler. Things I hadn't thought of in decades started to appear in my mind. Time slowed down, and we just enjoyed ourselves doing "analog" things like playing board games. Writing letters. Baking apple pie. Staring at the rain. Oh yes, and reading books and roasting chestnuts.

Dat lijkt me eigenlijk ook wel wat, om dat eens te doen. Dan heb ik eindelijk misschien tijd om mijn nieuwe campingbrander af te maken (is voor 88% klaar). Als ik een van de komende zondagen op geen enkele manier te bereiken ben, dan weet je hoe het zit.