Getting Connected

The Myth of Multitasking

“Your conscious brain cannot multitask. If I'm speaking to you and checking my I-phone at the same time, I'm doing neither. This is why our society is frazzled, the misconception that we can consciously do more than one thing at a time effectively.”

Deepak Chopra

You may get a little tired of my nature blogs—about birdsong, and chickens, and sunrises and such. Some days, I feel like the last of the Mahicans, a relic of the pioneering days. I was aware while traveling, and every day since, how many of us walk around with our cell phones/tablets ever before our faces. Here we were in “the garden of Eden” and some of us spent ninety percent of our time on-line. Maybe that's okay, but I think it's a misconception to tell ourselves we're staying “connected” with our technology, or that it makes us more efficient.

One of the disconnects in the tech-madness of the Internet age is in our relationship to the planet. If the only knowledge I have of this earth is what I see on my i-pad, I will not pay attention to what is actually going on around me. Yesterday, in Birmingham, the temperature registered in the high nineties with a heat index of 105. Tornadoes were ripping through the mid-west, and drowning people in their houses, and today is going to be much the same. Most of us will respond to this by cranking up the air conditioning, which in turn, releases more carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. We have the misconception that global warming is a problem for scientists to figure out; it has nothing to do with us.

I use the computer and cell phone like everyone else. The trick, I believe, is finding balance between being connected by technology, and having human, eye-to-eye interchange with others and our world. There is almost nothing more irritating than trying to have a conversation with someone who is constantly checking their phone, or texting while you are speaking. Not only is it rude, it means their attention is on neither. This is not communicating, and even though we may be within arms reach of each other, we are not connected.

Today, try not to multitask. Do one thing at a time, and allow your brain to focus. That will make you more efficient! Go outside for a little while, take a walk. You'll find, at the end of the day, that you are less tired, less irritable, and more related to the people who really matter.

                                                            In the Spirit,

                                                                   Jane