Getting Back To What Counts

Modigliani. Brush and ink on paper. © 2012 Salvador Castío

Today, I logged in to Facebook to see what was going on, and one of the first things that I saw was an article that read, “Two men shot.” I logged out and thought, “I’m out; I’m done.” This is not how I wish to spend my time. I’ve felt this way for quite some time and it seems like today I reached my limit. I feel as if I’ve lost touch with things that are important to me and I don’t like it. This is why I’ve decided to cut back on my Internet time as much as I can and get back in touch with the things that truly fulfill me. The Internet is high on my list of things that I feel eat into my time, but it’s not the only thing.

There are a lot of things that can eat into our time today; it seems as if we’ve become prisoners to today’s technology and that we’ve forgotten simple basic things like going outside and enjoying the day or going out and having coffee with a friend sans smart phone. I know a few people who, miraculously, don’t have cell phones! Yes, it’s amazing that there are actually some of us who are free of a cell phone. At first I thought it was strange that they didn’t have one and even stranger that they didn’t want one. Now, my opinion has changed; now, I admire these people, and can understand why they choose not to have a cell phone. Thinking about this, I wondered if we truly need all the things that are available to us in this technological age. It seems as if there’s more and more things to distract us popping up all the time. I’m not sure that I want more things like that in my life; I feel as if I have enough already. There was a time when drawing, listening to music, reading, going to movies, etc was what took up my time. These are the things that fulfill me and they’re what I want to get back to. This desire puts me in an interesting spot being that I rely on the Internet to publicize and disseminate my work. Yes, technology has done wonders for people like me, there’s no doubt about it. That, however, doesn’t mean that technology dictates what I do with my time nor am I a  slave to it. It’s there when I need it and it’s not going away.

This realization means that there will be a change in the way that I spend my time. I’ve used the Internet for over a decade and I want to go back to what I did before that time; I want to get back in touch with non-technological, non-social media things. I miss doing those kinds of things. I want to get back to them being a part of my daily life again. Technology isn’t all bad, but it can eat up your time. In the end, it’s up to each one of us to decide how much time we wish to give to it. It comes down to priorities. Well, that’s how I see it anyway. Don’t worry, I will not stop posting new entries to this blog – in fact, I’ll probably post more often since I’ll be spending lots more time doing creative things. I guess you can look at it as a win-win situation.