Mindfully Connected – Nora Young and Groundedness in the Digital Age
Mindfulness: the state or quality of being mindful; attention; †memory (obs.); †intention, purpose (obs.)
-Oxford English Dictionary
Nora Young only briefly touches on the subject of mindfulness in her book The Virtual Self, in fact it covers only one chapter. The book, which chronicles Young’s account of digitally tracking herself, floats between critical social commentary and entertaining anecdotal observations in a thoughtful and compassionate tone. The chapter of my interest, namely “The Delights and Damage of Digital Life” focuses on the “disembodiment” or “ungrounding” that might be caused by too much dependence on the digital world. I found this chapter particularly powerful because, as a yoga teacher who is also a huge fan of digital technology, the challenge of groundedness is something that I am faced with daily, and something that I struggle to help others with, too. In this chapter, Young seems to be asking the question: How do we balance the demanding ephemeral digital world, while staying grounded in our bodies?
One answer to that may be a new phenomenon called “digital detoxes”, where participants pay upwards of hundreds of dollars to embark on nature retreats that are strictly digital –free zones. One such getaway is called “Camp Grounded” and is run by an organization, aptly called Digital Detox. Camp Grounded is tucked away in the wilderness amidst the Silicone Valley, and it’s website advertises hands-on grounding activities such as yoga, hiking, cooking, art and organic meals, as well as “Off the Grid, No Boss, No Cellphone, No Clock, No Work” (http://thedigitaldetox.org/).
At first glance, this type of activity doesn’t seem any different from a typical retreat except for its almost obsessive dedication to being digital-free. The website boasts “liberation from technology” and warns that “friendships at camp are based on real-life connections.” It’s disturbing that we need to be reminded and coached into making these real-life connections – that stripped bare of our Facebook friend count and status updates, we would have to actually engage in real-life one on one interactions with real people.
Ironically, along with this trend towards “digital detoxes”, for those who cannot afford to tune out of technology, there has emerged a whole host of new applications that can be downloaded and installed onto a smartphone, which promise to streamline and simplify your digital life. For the desperately addicted there is the Adbusters’ inspired Digital Detox app which “irrevocably disables your Android phone for a period of time you specify” (https://tirl.org/software/digitaldetox/#removal). That means that once you’ve initiated the detox, there is no way to reactivate your device, aside from a factory reset, effectively rebooting and reformatting it. The uplifting part of this new trend, is that it signifies a collective desire to balance out from the digital craze that has swept society over the past decade or so.
“To be digital,” says Young, “is to feel a perpetual, lightweight sense of connection and energy.” It’s a “thin, fast, evolving, highly collaborative culture” (81). The emergence of digital detoxes shows that collectively we’ve become aware of the implicit danger of drowning in our digital lives; of being caught in the deadly undertow of digital multitasking and constantly updated statuses. If we imagine the digital world as a swiftly moving river, digital detoxes offer a rock in the current, an ability to jump out, catch our breath and find our footing.
In The Virtual Self, Young comments on the “continuous partial attention,” that is fostered by a digital engagement (89). She describes how “we scan the digital horizon, perpetually on the lookout for the next hit” (90). She questions whether we are truly multitasking with our various digital devices – cell phones Facebook, Pinterest etc., constantly beeping for our attention – or if we are just only semi-engaged all the time, and if so, what is this doing to our health?
A new report by the University of Edinburg purports that the more social media connections that someone has, the more stressful social media will be for that person.
“Stress arises when a user presents a version of themself on Facebook that is unacceptable to some of their online ‘friends’, such as posts displaying behaviour such as swearing, recklessness, drinking and smoking.” according to a Press Release for the study. In addition to being constantly bombarded with new information, the study suggests that digital connections cause stress because of the need to constantly be monitoring what our digital selves might betray about our personal selves.
“We need to make space for that which cannot be statistically documented: inchoate, subjective, embodied experience.” (page 94) says Young. Perhaps the emergence of digital detoxes, mindfulness apps and attention to the connection of our physical bodies to a “disembodied” virtual self is the next step in our evolution to a discovering a healthy digital self.
I think Young is correct when she says, “being present is something that a lot of us have forgotten how to do” (96). This has been true for years well before the emergence of our digital lives. Mindfulness, stillness of the mind and connection to the body is a part of the struggle of being human; Buddhist teachings have been around for centuries with this message. No matter how many calories counted, steps mapped, or conversations recorded, a quantified digital self could never replace the deep sense of self discovery that comes from attentive introspection.
References:
Young, N. (2013). The Virtual Self: How our digital lives are altering the world around us. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121126131218.htm
http://techland.time.com/2013/12/20/shut-it-down-a-digital-detox-plan-for-the-holidays/