To refresh your memory, here’s my “sum the sum” from part 3 of my summary of Hamlet’s Blackberry:
- In general, society is not engaging in a debate concerning the ethics and philosophy surrounding the digital world.
- We tend to embrace technology before considering the ramifications of doing so.
- Being hyperconnected tends to create a state that mental health professionals are calling FOMO: fear of missing out.
- The presence of FOMO in our society tends to map a growing disconnect between the object-desiring mid brain and the meaning-desiring upper brain.
- “Digital development” tends to disrupt normal analog development leaving the mid brain largely separated from the upper brain.
- “Crossover people” (such as baby boomers) have one foot in analog development and the other in digital development.
- During the old analog development days, it was Bowlbian attachment relationships, with their various separation–reunion cycles, that helped naturally bridge mid brain to upper brain.
- Today we can “force” mid brain and upper brain together (mainly using such techniques as psychopharmacology and cognitive-behavioral therapy), but such forced unions do not appear to build bridges.
Lets get started with part 4 of my multi-part summary of William Powers’ book Hamlet’s BlackBerry: Building a Good Life in the Digital Age.
Here’s a great “take home” statement by Powers, which appears on page 46:
The digital consciousness can’t tolerate three minutes of pure focus.
Again, being able to appropriately focus attention for extended periods of time is one of the Executive Functions (talked about earlier). Lets listen in as Powers talks about what I am calling the world of “Airplane Space Experience”:
Up in an airplane without wireless [connections], all of that [social media busyness] receded. The world of endless potential tasks [my emphasis] was gone, and so too was that feeling of compulsory, needy outwardness. What was special about those flights was the very thing I had long tried to avoid, involuntary disconnectedness. Though air travel is miserable in so many ways … I actually started looking forward to it. Here was a rare respite from my connected life. Existence was reined in, reduced to just me and my immediate surroundings, the other passengers, the cup of tea on my tray table, the words on my notebook screen. I got some of my best thinking and writing done on those flights. And down on the toolbar at the bottom of the screen, was a constant reminder of why: the red X over the wireless icon, for no signal.
As Powers points out, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find these “rare respites,” these so-called Airplane Space Experiences. In contrast, we seem to be increasingly locked up in what Powers calls the world of Endless Potential Tasks. As I read Powers’ description of his Airplane Space Experience, I could not help but think that just simply walking in nature can bring a similar experience: just you, and that tree, the sky above, and maybe the words in a journal. So, maybe in an attempt to bring balance to the analog – digital divide, philanthropists should endeavor to make available respites such as an Airplane Space Experience. I’ll mention a couple of examples from our grantmaking program below.
About a year ago, I had an Airplane Space Experience, but it was on a trawler. I went cruising on a trawler with a couple of friends up on Puget Sound. As the boat pulled away, I could see the cell phone and WiFi bars drop to zero. It was very freeing. It was just me, a couple of friends, and the scenery slowly slipping by. (This particular trawler cruises at about 8 knots; top speed is 9 knots.) That’s not to say that there was no technology around. Quite the contrary. This particular trawler was decked out in high tech equipment like radar, depth finders, satellite phone, and chart plotters. Powers’ airplane above is likewise decked out in technology. But it’s the technology layer that creates a foundation upon which the Airplane Space Experience can take place. Consider this quote by a trawler captain (who went by the name John M.) that I read in a boating forum:
While some people cruise around watching Fox News 24 hours a day, staying stressed out and connected to the minutiae of modern living, for me, the true pleasure of boating is to become as close to being one with the sea and the elements and the wild coastlines I travel along and the wildlife, as possible. Anything that spoils that sense of splendid isolation and remoteness is a negative.
I don’t know John M.’s age but I would wager that he’s a crossover person (over age 50 or so). I’m not sure that “digital natives” (people who have grown up knowing nothing but screen life) would agree with John M. that “splendid isolation” is such a great thing. As Powers points out above, “digital consciousness can’t tolerate three minutes of pure focus.” But I would suggest that splendid isolation and development of Executive Functioning (talked about earlier) go hand in hand. On a simple level, meditation is about training one’s self to simply sit in an attempt to enter a state of splendid isolation. Can being on a trawler take you to a meditative state? You bet! As John M. puts it, “There is a calmness at sea that one can absorb into their soul.” Nicely put John. On page 48, Powers talks about his own boating experience thus
[I]’m happy … because I’m out on the water on a nice spring day. But there’s a special quality to this mood, a looseness in the way thoughts and feelings come and go, and even in how my body feels. It’s a happier kind of happiness that reminds me of these early tastes of independence in the old pre-digital world.
I’m jumping ahead here but towards the end of his book, Powers talks about a non-profit organization called Cape Cod Modern House Trust. According to an article that appeared in the Cape Cod Times (January 2nd, 2010), the CCMH Trust renovates and preserves historically significant houses on the Cape. To create an income stream, the Trust rents out the houses to artists and scholars. According to the article, artist Irene Lipton rented one of the houses for two weeks. Lipton simply observes, “It’s nice to be away from the Internet.” Here’s an example of where philanthropy might step in to provide for these respites from technology, these Airplane Space Experiences. Here’s a few respite possibilities:
- Spending a few days on a slow cruising trawler
- Spending a few days on a sailboat
- Spending a few days out in nature
- Spending a few days in a renovated historical home (without WiFi or Internet)
- Spending a few days on a retreat in a rural area (like Ghost Ranch in New Mexico)
- Spending a few hours in an airplane, or even a glider
- Spending some time to learn how to meditate
I’ll end here. Here’s my sum the sum for part 4:
- Here’s a powerful Powers “bottom line”: Digital consciousness can’t tolerate three minutes of pure focus.
- Being able to appropriately focus attention for extended periods of time is one of the Executive Function Skills.
- Executive Functioning tends to flourish in “Airplane Space Experiences”
- The world of Endless Potential Tasks (digital) stands in stark contrast to the world of Airplane Space Experiences (analog).
- Airplane Space Experiences tend to contain and reveal object relations, and, in turn, wholes or gestalts.
- The world of Endless Potential Tasks tends to be the world of objectification where objects are devoid of relationships and are experienced in isolation away from wholes or gestalts.
- Splendid isolation and development of Executive Functioning tend to go hand in hand.
- Splendid isolation can be found on the water, in the air, in nature, in rural areas, and even in meditation.
- Philanthropists should endeavor to make these respite opportunities available.
- Respite opportunities are like rich soil to growing Executive Functioning.
I’d be remiss if I did not point out that our Foundation has made grants that are, at their core, about Airplane Space Experiences and finding Splendid Isolation. Here are two examples:
We made a $5,000 grant back in April, 2012, to A Room of Her Own Foundation. Consider this quote from their Letter of Intent:
Nearly a century ago, famous English novelist and critic Virginia Woolf told readers in A Room of One’s Own that creative women had a problem: Not enough money and not enough locked rooms in which to work. In her view, providing women artists with money meant freeing them “for the power to contemplate … a lock on the door means the power to think for oneself.” Established upon Woolf’s belief in providing women artists with a room of their own, consistently, to develop the “habit of freedom and the courage to write exactly what we think,” is the A Room of Her Own Foundation (AROHO) founded by Darlene Chandler Bassett and Mary Johnson in July of 2000. AROHO Foundation is seeking funding to maintain and expand its mission on behalf of women writers and artists. AROHO is a social collective that moves to change the lives of all creative women by honoring our artistic excellence and moving us out of isolation to a rich and whole community.
We made a $25,000 grant back in March, 2011, to Children & Nature Network. This grant resulted in the publication of the booklet entitled Together In Nature—Pathways to a Stronger, Closer Family. This booklet talks about how nature can be used by families to access essentially Airplane Space Experiences (as alluded to above). The booklet argues that these types of family experiences in nature can help form close bonds and attachments, which, in turn, encourages the development of Executive Function skills. (Contact the Foundation and I’ll see about getting you a copy of this booklet.)
Stay tuned for part 5. I’ll try to get it out as soon as I possibly can. In the mean time, consider reading Powers’ book Hamlet’s Blackberry. If you have read Hamlet’s Blackberry, feel free to leave your comments concerning the information that Powers presents.
