I used to have an Uncle who farmed. He’d built his house with his own hands then maintained his acreage over twenty-some years as an upper-class suburban community thrived on all sides of him. He tended to his property throughout the year, always with a smile. He was the sort that always had fresh vegetables on the table, brewed his own beer, and had cable TV only so that he could catch the 5-day forecast on the Weather Channel.
Among all the things he taught me, I think the ability to pull himself away from his techy job and his unbounded joy while doing it is one of the most important. So, for the purposes of further examining this whole “communicating over distances” or “figuring out where things are interfered with” idea, I will be recording all the time I spend interacting with something digital for one week. Keyboards and TVs/computer screens will be the primary culprits. I will not be including phone time, since that is actual interaction. Journal writing will not be counted either, as that is a physical, analog process that results in something of permanence.
Mainly, I’ll be seeking to observe just how much time I spend moderately disconnected from the physical things going on around me.
Expect a full graphical and textual report in one week.