Have you ever had a moment where you are in that moment with nothing else distracting you from that moment?
Last weekend, I was at the Intersection Lounge for one of the Prospecto music festival acts. There I was, listening to George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic, but all I could see, as the deep, heartbeat-mimicking bass thumped was my phone leaving my hand as I handed it off to another friend to take some photos from his perspective.
The thread of technology, once a thin miniscule thread, has persistently woven itself into a comfortable blanket, wrapping itself around much of our day-to-day lives.
When my friend walked away, I realized he was taking my communication device connected to all that I love: my family, my friends, my extended friends’ lists, my camera, my recording device, my GPS, my Email program, my restaurant finder, my financial portals… The list is long.
For a few seconds, there was an urge to race and retrieve it from my friend’s hand, but as I watched it work its way further away, I felt something I had not felt in a long time: incredible relief.
Free from the urge to check the time, check who texted me, take a photo (that never really captures the moment), browse my email, source via twitter who is tweeting nearby, etc., I was forced to live in the present. There I was, disconnected form the Matrix-like world I have been living within for years now in greater and bigger ways.
By doing do, I discovered many things about the performance I would have missed.
For starters, I would have most certainly missed the subtle gesture of George Clinton, who in his attempt to get the crowd fired up, used the slightest glance toward his musical sidekicks to impart nonverbal instruction. Clinton’s seemingly nonchalant look let various band members know they were not giving him the level of funk volume he thought was possible.
And, he may have been right because in front of me was a sea of camera phones held high in the air, capturing his attempts to get us to put our phones down and raise both hands high over our heads.
George Clinton comes from a different era, a time when audience and artist formed strong bonds based upon the experience of art being created collaboratively.
Here in this time, many years past Clinton’s artistic origins, the audience seemed more concerned on recording the moment than living it with Mr. Funk.
When we look into our phones that is where we are. I, too, struggle with this and have been trying to get things back in balance.
I have begun to change my patterns because I think our digital revolution accelerated faster than we could keep up. Even Emily Post is a bit out of breath as she tries to keep up with these fast changes. She drops her newest edition on Oct. 18 -- her first update in seven years.
And while I cannot speak with Ms. Post, who passed away in 1960, I can see a few changes on the horizon.
While it is not standard procedure for me to turn my phone over to the hide-the-screen option, I do think the fact that it is there just means my action is symbolic. We all know the minute the table vibrates my water glass, this desire to remain disconnected from technology disappears with all the subtlety of an approaching dinosaur from Jurassic Park.
In the end, I anticipate in the near future during various events and social gatherings, I will be placing my phone in my computer bag, so I can be present again.
So, what will the future bring? Are there trends I might be missing or want to see? Sure. So? I can reconnect later.
I would love a time when I could, in a modern scenario, emulate film noir actors entering a night club and coat check my phone to avoid the temptations of dining and dialing while out with friends.
Do we need phones-free zones in our parks where we encourage people to go silent or left in the car while walking with nature? There is a great, undeveloped, city-owned park at Leonard between Ball and Perkins that is 80+ acres and could be the start of a new trend in recreation: Cell phone free zone. Our area’s medical health organizations and foundations could easily subsidize a meditation park.
Fall is a perfect time for reflection and growth and before the ground hardens, we should get outside, take a stroll out in a park or better yet, have a meal on a local restaurant deck with our phone turned off and tucked snuggly in a big, wool, cable knit sweater as we breathe in the cool autumn air.
And for those who are wondering, did my phone come back? Yes, it did. My friend who had borrowed it to take a few photos of the show leaned in and said, “Aren’t you even going to look at them?”
The me from the past would have said, “Sure,” but I was living in the moment, present and alive. And I loved being there (again.)
The Future Needs All of Us (to be present.)
Tommy Allen, Lifestyle Editor
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