When You're Out, Be Out

Award-winning filmmaker and journalist Sebastian Junger carries a flip phone. His answer to why in an interview was, "When I'm out, I want to be out." The interviewer asked, "Don't you want to check email sometimes?" Junger's answer: "No. That's why I have a laptop at home."

There were computers twenty years ago, believe it or not. Though not as convenient, technology from twenty years ago still enabled us to connect with ideas and people worldwide.

The idea of people wasting time in front of a screen was a concern in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but dial-up internet connection limited its use to the family PC in Dad's office for most families. The chances of sliding down a slippery slope of YouTube videos were yet to come, and parents took refuge in yelling "Go play outside" to their video game-addicted kids. In 2021, with a computer in your back pocket, the rabbit holes available are endless regardless if you're inside or out.

It's in the best interest of Big Tech to engineer their products to be addictive. A dependency on smartphones and apps lets companies sell you more products and services. And if they're not selling you something, they'll collect your data to sell to someone else who will.

Being out while on your phone shrinks your physical posture and narrows the view of the world unfolding around you. We tell ourselves stories about the life we lead, and such stories form the experiences we have. Virtual experiences exist on the phone, but they involve a manufactured reality rather than an organic one.

Think of unintentional internet use as fast food: Quick, digestible input that makes you feel stimulated in the short term but lacks substance for the long haul.

Eat your vegetables instead by avoiding processed information while immersing yourself in the real world. My funniest jokes as a stand-up comedian came from real-life stories. None of those stories involve me looking down into an infinity pool.

There's a whole world waiting for you to explore. The world simmers with exciting situations, goofy people, and things that spark our curiosity when we lift our heads and shoulders to see what's happening in front of us.

Be out when you're out. Sit with the tension of wanting to check Facebook, Gmail, or your texts and experience the actual world instead.

(This post initially was written for Paths to Peace: 9 Short Ways to a Life of Lower Anxiety but ended up not making the cut. If you liked this post, consider downloading the free eBook now.)