Here is a wonderful excerpt a good friend sent regarding our efficient lifestyle trap. What does this have to do about innovation? Everything!!!"Everybody who's observed American culture, beginning with de Tocqueville, has said that Americans are uneasy with leisure. . . . New technologies make it easier [to channel] those impulses.’
“The cult of busyness and the advent of new technologies have also reshaped our leisure time. In a society that lives by the "work hard, play hard" philosophy, workaholic excess is rewarded with an excess of self-gratification. We console our aching bodies and distract our racing minds with indulgence in food and drink, shopping, entertainment -- anything to anesthetize us to the reality of the daily grind and rescue us from our long-neglected inner thoughts. When they threaten to intrude anyway, we use music, talk radio, and television to keep them at bay. We can shower to the accompaniment of a waterproof radio, watch television in the car or in an airplane, and even hike on a remote mountaintop to familiar tunes playing on our iPods.
“Even when we are not watching television, surfing the Web, or jamming with the iPod, we tend to fill our hours with nonstop action and sensory stimulation. Experts have lamented that our free time has become so highly programmed and crammed with endless diversions that families no longer have an opportunity to simply be together and children are no longer learning the art of conversation. Parents feel pressured to fill a child's every waking moment with action, achievement, and entertainment. As a result, many children no longer know the idle pleasures of a carefree summer or the challenge of fending off boredom by inventing imaginary friends or scouring the neighborhood for playmates whose parents did not already book them for a formal playdate.”
“Even when we are not watching television, surfing the Web, or jamming with the iPod, we tend to fill our hours with nonstop action and sensory stimulation. Experts have lamented that our free time has become so highly programmed and crammed with endless diversions that families no longer have an opportunity to simply be together and children are no longer learning the art of conversation. Parents feel pressured to fill a child's every waking moment with action, achievement, and entertainment. As a result, many children no longer know the idle pleasures of a carefree summer or the challenge of fending off boredom by inventing imaginary friends or scouring the neighborhood for playmates whose parents did not already book them for a formal playdate.”
Colleen Carroll Campbell
Go out and walk, relax or chicken wrestle.
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