Sensory Overload

I've noticed something over the last few years since the internet blew up and everyone started plastering it with anything and everything they can think of.  We have way too many options when it comes to passing the time.  It used to be, at least for me back on the farm, that you'd spend your free time on a quad or dirt bike ripping down gravel roads and through ditches and fields.  The internet and cell phones were still years away so it wasn't even something that we thought about.  I think back to when the internet first came around, it was crazy.....and slow.  Dial up modems would force you to sit for 10 solid minutes while a naked picture of Gillian Anderson loaded up in front of you.  But you'd sit there and wait.....and wait.....and wait. 

Nowadays we can see full HD video online with the click of a mouse and 2 seconds of loading time.  So when it comes time to kill 30 minutes I find myself sitting with my fingers hovering over the keyboard, and I have no idea what I wanna watch or hear.  It's frustrating sometimes.  No longer are we forced to wait for anything, we can have anything we want right now! And that's the problem.  You go out with friends for a beer and most times you can look around and see half of whoever you're with with their faces buried in their smartphones watching videos, texting or tweeting.  Just remember the days when you didn't even have a cell phone..........just let that sink in for a second.

How awesome was it?  To me it was a great time in life, you actually had face to face conversations with people, no tweeting, no texting, no facetime, just actual face to face time.  What happened to us? Walk down the street and count the amount of people in 4 blocks that have earbuds in or their heads tilted down looking at their phones.  It's astounding.  And it's only getting worse.  But what can we do?

I guess the only thing we can do is make an honest effort to cut down our use of technology.  Talk to someone, strike up a conversation with a complete stranger, read a book, take a hike, go for a walk, turn off the tv, just do something different.  So often we get into a routine in life and think to ourselves, this is life, this is how it is, it can't change.  Yes it can!! All you have to do is try.