14 people were waiting for the shuttle to take us to the plane. 13 were all furiously thumbing away on their various phones. For once I was not. My phone had died so I had to stand and pretend calmness with myself and my environment. Bored, my other self watched my ridiculous act. I actually started to rock. Perhaps I felt gentle swaying would display profound knowledge of bikram balance. I then began to clean my specs only to realize I was using the scarf of a fellow unknown traveler. He was less than pleased.
The 7 minutes were endless. What is there to do while waiting for a plane, accompanied by strangers, and without the welcome glow of your blackberry? It was an intriguing, and unexpected, predicament.
And then… I recalled my practice of biomimicry. I looked around for the genius of nature only to be confronted with 100 percent man made objects. I couldn’t see the sky due to the coach’s ceiling and the area around our airport trees had been replaced by the loveliness of tarmac. The only flowers I could see were the floral spots on one of my companion’s shirts. Lovely.
There was little nature to emulate and the clicking of fingers-on-blackberries now seemed louder than ever. I could only imagine what relationships, information, and connections they were all making while I stood idle. I began to feel anxious and, as the only “unplugged” one among us, began fidgeting.
My rocking had begun to annoy my “crowd.” I began a sneezing fit instead. Immediately I had an additional 3 feet available around me as my crowd had instantly labeled me with H1N1. That did not take long.
Moral of this story: Life without digital chatter is extinct so best to travel with 2 sets of phone batteries, unless the runway you are sitting on is on the dust trails in Zimbabwe or Parrot Cay.
Loved this story.. it’s a bit odd to be disconnected from the digital world. Somehow, it doesn’t feel as safe to have this disconnect sometimes. At the same time, it can be liberating to be unreachable in certain situations.
I totally agree. I wish I could just sit and enjoy the unplugged moments of life, but instead I feel panic and discomfort if I can’t send a text or check my email. It’s sad. I fear society will disconnect with the real world in preference of the virtual world to a point that we lose touch.
I think the real moral of the story is we need our space whether it be digital or virtual and how can we have a sneezing fit on our email to grab a 3 foot circle? Digital chatter keeps the voice in our head quiet and keeps us from going mad…