Unwired

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Journal entry from day one of this year’s first camp-out

My first camping trip of the season happened at Breitenbush, as I shared with you a few weeks back. I’d shut off my phone as I pulled in. Then I set up my tent and arranged the contents of my backpack around my sleeping pad. Ahhhhh. Simplicity.

We can sidestep the trappings of technology in our century, but they expertly tuck themselves into pockets (car keys) or bags (phones) so that we criss-cross their paths and think of them often. Little phones these days, they do everything. They even tell you what constellations hang above your head in utter darkness, outside of cell range, high in an alpine meadow. So they are Pandora’s box, indeed.

But the fastest tumble happens in my good old-fashioned brain. The tech is not the problem; my addiction is what hurts. And I do cop to addiction. My body knows the hormonal spill and thrill of checking email. I get a really good one now and then. I open my inbox with bated breath over and over, tolerating gaps in its amazingness, because I subconsciously know that the dopamine hit will be intoxicating when it arrives with sweet surprise.

My brain is to blame. Or is it? Who directs my attention? Who watches the action? Who witnessed me clicking my car key over and over (seriously, three times) as I tried to “unlock” my tent? The proof of this witnessing was written by hand in my journal on the spot, now pictured above. My brain struggled to express itself without emojis. Tech provides another language, and apparently I’m fluent.

I had myself a giggle, gravely. Watching the antics of my habit-mind, I caught a glimpse of how important it is to realign my sensibilities with nature. I sit outside often … right now as I’m typing this even. I sleep outside at every opportunity, warm hat and sweatshirt at the ready for cool summer mornings.

It feels good to attune to a rhythm that is stronger than any wifi signal can muster. I feel both small and a part of something bigger, as I take in the rustle of leaves in the breeze, birds flying above. I love all the seasons, but summer makes it easy to remember who I am and what I’m made of.

What incidents lately have caught you off guard and helped you to see yourself with fresh eyes, particularly in relationship to technology? How do you detox and reconnect with the more natural you?