New technology for true health...
When a new technology arrives, we are focused on the problems it solves. The inventors and marketers see the benefits of their new product, but they aren't yet aware of the downsides.
We adopt these new technologies. We focus on the problems that the technology solves, and are blind for long periods to the downsides.
Sometimes we never become aware of the downsides.
Sometimes we become aware of the downsides only after it's too late to go back to the "old way."
And often, we completely forget what the "old way" was. What it felt like.
I look at the technologies that now allow you to track the length and quality of your sleep, your blood oxygen levels, your pulse, your blood pressure, the number of steps you took in a day, etc. etc. and I am afraid for people.
This technology gives us an intoxicating sense of power and control. But it also becomes a crutch and a distraction. And then it becomes a perceived "necessity."
People get sucked into this whirlpool of consumerism that gives them the sense that they are purchasing "health." These tools are a step towards achieving "health"!
Did you know that humans have been able to sleep reasonably well for thousands upon thousands of years before they were able to track every minute detail?
Did you know that humans' hearts have been beating for thousands upon thousands of years before they were able to track every little thump of the heart?
Did you know that before we adopted an industrialized, electrified, and constantly illuminated life, we had to walk, jog, run, grab, grip, move, and FOCUS on what was in front of us? That even after we industrialized, we still have had decades where the mind was allowed to freely consider large and small topics in gentle, lulling solitude? That our minds, hearts, and bodies were soothed by quiet? That we once had communities and lifestyles that allowed for sleep?
Technology can be amazing. But it can also blind us to the simple truth.
True health is found in the habits of daily life. It can be found in quiet.
True health is not in the blinking, flashing band-aids that complicate, distract, and destroy our minds. It's not found in comparing the size of our bellies to total strangers who have photoshopped themselves or starved themselves. It's not found in slavish mimicry of the latest idol that the TV or some spinning grinning algorithm pushes into your mind space.
True health arises when you cut out the noise and reduce things down to simple, manageable patterns.
It arises when you recognize that you desire better - and that to achieve better, you do not need to buy ANOTHER DAMN THING.
#consumerism #health #life #technology #luddite
