We live in such an instant society these days. Between twitter, facebook, text messages and cell phones, a minute is a long time! News travels faster via social networking than it does by the old primitive methods of TV. Our behavior has become mindless in society.
These days, it is so easy to take a video or picture, upload it and have millions throughout the world see it than it has ever been. By the time the 10 o'clock or 11 o'clock news comes on, a majority of people have already heard what is being transmitted.
I'm intrigued though how we as humans communicate in these instantaneous ways. Just today, I had an email from some stranger asking me why I had not contacted them back in regards to a link exchange. I was like, whoa....! Link exchange requests don't rank high on my to do list because most of the time they are from spammers. For someone to think that I was obligated to respond and do this link exchange within 6 days is jaw dropping to me!
Take notice though when someone asks a question or needs information. All you need to do these days is tweet it or put it up on Facebook and within minutes, there is some response. If not, you can always google it. Part of my brain wonders how we ever functioned 10 years ago.
Is all of this instant communication in our instant society good for civilization? I'm not sure I could answer that question but while I am a techie person, I do understand the speed of information exchange. As a massage therapist and healer, I do understand the need for mindfulness which is so lacking in our instant society because of mindless behavior.
Even in my day where information travels quickly and I benefit from this, I try to take time out and just be mindful of my life and my day. Too much speed and instant information can be harmful to our health because it takes us out of mindfulness and puts us in a state of mindless behavior. When we operated from a state of mindlessness, we have separated from our human essence.
I would urge all of us that are constantly connected to the continuous information flow of social networking and email, to stop and give ourselves a rest. We need the down time and we need to unplug from all of the noise in our life. So much of the instant society and information stream is more noise, than it is needed sustenance for our life.
Unfortunately, we get drawn into instant information that we feel our life can't operate without social networking. When we reach that point, we have become less than human. The good news is that by unplugging and taking a break from the instant society, we can once again find our true human essence that makes this society great! We do not have to live in mindless behavior but we can truly be a positive functioning force in the world of mindfulness.
For an excellent book on Mindfulness, check out On Becoming An Artist - Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity. Don't let the title fool you to think that it is only about becoming an artist. She makes some wonderful points about mindfulness that makes this book a must read. This book by Ellen Langer is one of my favorite books.
Related Blog Posts
1) Mindless Or Mindful (Jan 9, 2011)
2) Are You Mindful And Creative (Sep 19, 2009)
Other Resources
1) Book on Mindfulness by Ellen Langer
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