Disconnected ~ 12/52

On a Friday I work just a minute's walk from the beach. Last Friday in particular I knew my body and heart were calling for me to set a little time aside, to be by the water and just be, to write for me and focus on my highest priorities. But I decided on the responsible option of working for three hours and spending twenty minutes for me by the sea afterwards. 

The universe had other ideas. As I sat down to work, my laptop took forever to boot up. Then my mobile phone reception went dead - in a place where I always have full reception. Finally my laptop was up and running, but I couldn't connect to the wireless internet. A few more attempts, and 30 minutes later I was online and ready to write. Then I popped my USB into the laptop and the laptop found nothing. I tried again, and again. Nothing. I persisted with the work, doing as much as I could without access to the files I needed, and then finally I gave up.

And trusted that working perhaps wasn't what I was meant to be doing at that very moment. I packed up and walked to the beach. I lay down, closed my eyes and listened to the sounds of the birds and water. But after I while I could only hear the quiet rhythm of my breath. 

Later I checked my phone - full reception. Sometimes I think the universe has a way of forcing us in the direction we deep down know we're meant to be. I see now how much I needed that disconnection from technology on that day, to reconnect fully with the essence of me.

xx

Any messages from the universe headed your way lately?

{This image is part of my photo project "by the sea" series for this year ~ a place I come to stop and just be, and to honour me. More by the sea posts here.}  

Technology killed my memories

I found a floppy disk, and it got me thinking. Can you remember floppy disks? Before USB sticks, before memory cards. They were popular when you used your mobile phone solely to make phone calls. They looked like this. I actually found four.


Long gone: Remember these? {pic by me}


I was intrigued to see what was lurking inside. My guess was final year of secondary school assignments, maybe some creative writing, but it felt like a little treasured moment caught in time. A disk full of memories. So I went to the PC to pop it in... and well, no that wasn't going to happen. Nowhere to insert my floppy disk because they are long gone... just like... well I'm not sure what. Because film cameras still work, Polaroid cameras have made a comeback and you can still listen to a tape deck, and even phones with cords and without a touch number pad still work... But floppy disks? They just didn't make the cut. And my little treasured memory keeper? It's buried treasure now.

But yes this has all got me thinking. About how technology has progressed in the past 10 years when a floppy disk was precious. And it's made me wonder what technology today's children will know as normal... and what pieces of technology they will never know at all.

And will we miss the old technology? Or is it all for the better?

There's no denying the USB outranks the floppy. But there's one thing that I still feel nostalgic about - the film camera. I miss them. Always taking two photos, just in case someone blinked the first time. And that wait for your photos to be processed, the element of suspense when you wondered if you got the perfect shot. And the sense of elation when you saw your photos for the first time. Remember? I miss that.

Sometimes I wish time could stand still, so we could take it all in. Enough of the updating gadgets every six months. Let's just enjoy what we have right here, right now. Just don't take away my smartphone.

Elisa xx

What technology can't you live without?