Everyday Mindfulness

I'm reading Jon Kabat-Zinn's Coming To Our Senses, which is such a beautifully wise book.
It was written in 2005 when Facebook and Twitter were mere twinkles in the eyes of certain entrepreneurs. However, Kabat-Zinn is so wonderfully observant about the detrimental effects of new technologies and social networking (instant messaging would have been rife, I suppose, in 2005).
"We drive ourselves to distraction," he writes, "and the human world drives us to distraction in ways the natural world in which we grew up as a species never did. The human world, for all its wonders and profound gifts, also bombards us with more and more useless things to entice us, seduce us, pique our fancy, appeal to our endless desire for becoming. It erodes the chances of us being satisfied with being in any moment, with actually appreciating this moment without having to fill it with anything or move on to the next one. It robs us of time even as we complain we don't have any."
I was made acutely aware of this recently during a train ride from Brighton to London. The young announcer piped up with, "It's a beautiful day out there today, ladies and gentlemen. Why don't you take this opportunity to sit back, relax, and enjoy the beautiful English countryside?" The entire carriage erupted with laughter. It was like the funniest thing they'd heard in their lives. Then, without missing a beat, they returned to their iPods, iPads, iPhones and whatever else they were plugged into.
It made me sad to realise that the simple act of sitting on a train and admiring the scenery had become inherently comic.
I've taken a few long train journeys of late and one thing that has struck me is the number of couples (boyfriends/girlfriends, husbands/wives) who sit side by side, each plugged into their separate devices, not saying a word to each other the entire journey. I've started to notice that it's becoming socially acceptable for people to tweet at restaurant tables, seemingly oblivious to how rude this may appear to other people at their table. I've lost count of the number of people who have bumped into me on pavements as they're too engrossed in checking e-mails or whatever to pay any attention to where they're walking. Just today on one of the busiest roads in Brighton I watched a man walk down the street watching a movie on his iPad.
Am I alone in finding all this fairly depressing? What sort of a mindless future are we all walking into?
I'd be interested to hear anyone else's thoughts on this.
Cheers, Jon

I have a great deal of ambivalence about this issue. As usual JKZ is right on the money in the quote that you have used. Also, I am with you on your observations of a generation of people staring into devices instead of talking to each other, being in the moment. I have instigated a no devices at the table rule in our house. At mealtimes we sit round the table, eat our dinner and talk to each other. It just seems right to me.

On the other hand, this forum, this idea would probably not exist without Twitter. One night I had an idea and created a Twitter account to tweet about mindfulness. People seemed to love what I was tweeting, and I am gaining quite a following. This has allowed me to promote the forum and build it up. Twitter is a really powerful tool actually; it has allowed the Arab spring to happen. I use Facebook too; its nice to see photos of family members that I wouldn't normally have seen. People talking to each other can only be a good thing in the end. Maybe I'm a hopeless optimist.

But you're right: the Internet/social media hold lots of grave dangers. I find that the answer to this question is the same as the answer to many questions: more mindfulness.

The Internet is just a new type of communication technology. It's both enlightening and distracting, but overall, it's as beneficial to human culture as the invention of the printing press was. People have walked down streets staring down at iPad movies, and they have walked down streets staring at pages of a novel. The difference between devices and books is that we have not established proper behavior for devices yet. Pulling out your smartphone while having dinner with someone is rude in the same way opening up a book would be. To me, the only problem the Internet and its devices present is one of etiquette.

I think this is one of the most interesting subjects and spend a lot of time thinking about how are we in relation to our technology. I was fortunate enough to have sat with Jon Kabat-Zinn recently and hear his thinking. He said, it's how many different ways can we say pay attention? Being creative in communicating this is a mission I believe in.

This post also reminds me of MIT's Sherry Turkle her book Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other. "Technology doesn’t just change what we do, it changes who we are."

They both were at the Wisdom 2.0 Conference last month. If you haven't checked out this conference and you are interested in this conversation. I highly recommend it. http://goo.gl/v8S6I

A Very interesting topic! I must admit i am ad guilty as most, would feel quite list without my smart phone, find it most useful especially for Twitter and reading up here in the forum , i do think time and place for everything and family time should be just that, i get annoyed when my daughter comes to visit and first thing she asks is to bottle my phone and disappears! U have often been sitting on buses and noticed Everyone round about me active on their various social devices, i pad i phones etc and feel it is sas people dont communicate by actually talking to each other! To sum up i am glad i have my smart phone and internet but try not to be on it all the time now when i walk to work i do it mindfully and am not plugged into anything but nature.

I quite agree with JKZ and many others who have posted. And at times I can be as guilty as the next person for my use of the computer, twitter, facebook or other. Yes we are in a new era being flooded by digital media in a way we could never have comprehended 10 years ago; and yes it can be a great source for disconnecting and distracting. However, we could also remember that humankind has always had to contend with new technology and ways of doing things, and this is just another in that direction. It is big, it is powerful, addictive, persuasive and can be all too consuming if we are not careful. BUT we can also remember that WE have the POWER in our hands to use it for better or for worse, WE can moderate our behaviour, the answer is in our own hands: to bring Mindfulness to all areas of our lives; to note our incessant behaviour or addictive nature; the draw to things that are not wholesome to us and to recognise when it is useful for us to use them and when we can make space for ourselves, our family, nature or whatever brings us back to our hearts, our inner self and the quality of silence within which, when nurtured, feeds our spirit, our capacity to be creative, connect to others and be whole. Just my reflections.

Brilliantly put, Craftimina.
Of course you're right in saying that humankind has always had to adjust to new technology. And I wouldn't disagree with Brad (below) in that this current wave of technology is tremendously beneficial in many ways. The answer, of course, is to be as mindful as possible about it.

I couldn't resist sharing the link of this discussion, it's very interesting, thanks for your input, everyone

I was thinking today, as I washed and dried some dishes, about how technology is increasingly fuelling the autopilot mode in us.

From our cars (with automatic lights and wipers, reversing cameras, built-in sat navs) to our kitchens (the ubiquitous dishwasher and self-cleaning ovens and tons of labour-and-mind-"saving" devices) and our homes and workplaces more generally (smart heating and lighting systems and this Internet of Things upturn).

The pace of change in just 3-5 years is incredible, coupled with the amount of choice out there now for everything. How many TV channels are there now? How many sources of "on demand" movies and programmes? How many "providers"?

I don't consider myself to have Luddite tendencies at all (and I am a child of the 80s and therefore have adapted to the digital age quite seamlessly), but I am finding peace in switching some of this "stuff" off and turning my back on its autopilot/distraction encroachment. Although I do treasure so much of what it has brought into my life too - FaceTime with my (geographically distant) family for instance.

The dishwashing was supposed to have been a mindful activity for week 1!

It was, until I made the mental connection between what I was doing and the dishwasher.......before bringing myself back to the manual washing of the dishes.