Wonderosity

One of my favorite outcomes from the Soul Tech workshop is that one of the participants, Ariel Meadows (a Tech Savvy Microsoft Employee,  Author, and insightful blogger) decided to commit to one night a week of no ’screen technology’ (except snapping a few digital pictures to record her process.) She’s documenting her experiences on her blog under the tag (and registered domain name) “52NightsUnplugged“.    

I’d mentioned in the workshop, during a point of practical steps one may choose to take, that my family has been trying to keep a ‘low tech sabbath’ on Sundays (off and on for about three years now) and I’d like to think that perhaps that was part of her inspiration.  Regardless of the source of her inspiration, I think its very cool and courageous that she’s going for it!  Even more inspirational is the fact that she’s been getting responses from her readers deciding that they too want to give it a go.  In addition, the Today Show (who chose to profile Ariel during the workshop) is flying her out for the upcoming February 19th show to talk live about how ‘52 Nights’ has been going.  Go Ariel, spread the gospel of ’soul tech’, of sustainable technological practices… or whatever one wants to call it. 

It’s not about abandoning technology.  It’s not about smashing the machines.  It’s about dethroning technocentrism.  It’s about not getting to the end of your life and thinking “Crap. I wish I hadn’t spent 25 of my years staring at screens.” (Take the natl avg of 4.5 hrs of TV a day, add movies, video games, cell phones, PDAs, etc and thats a low guestimate for a 75 year life…and who knows what new technology will be tempting us in the future.  Beware the ring Frodo.) 

Soul Tech, or Sustainable Tech, is about recognizing and acting on the fact that there are more wonder-full, mysterious, creative, real, adventurous, fulfilling ways to experience and express our humanity than just staring at screens and tapping mice.  I want to live life deeply and I’m sure you do too. 

The Seattle ‘Soul Tech’ workshop (”Living a passionately productive life amidst a tech-stressed world”) was a great success. You can see some of the pictures below, or here at the Humanity 2.0 site (a social site for those who have attended or who are interested in related topics.)

While it was a little strange to have the Today Show crew swinging camera’s around our faces, I am impressed that we (Jay, myself and all the participants) all seemed to eventually get used to it. Was it an appropriate use of technology…well, if it spreads the message, then I think yes.

So, I received an email from the producer yesterday that said our workshop would air on February 20th. How they will take what was probably 5-6 hours of footage and whittle it down to 2-3 minutes while maintaining the heart of things is a little beyond me. My hope though is that, besides a potential increase in business, it will also increase national awareness and dialogue about these increasingly important issues: How is technology effecting our daily lives for the better and for the worse? How can we become more intentional and conscious of our use in a way that maintains the best parts of being human?

Find more photos like this on Humanity 2.0

I wish I had known about ImprovEverywhere earlier in my life, as I’ve been doing somewhat related ‘public spontaneous events’ by myself and with friends for over a decade now.  Joining a broader community would have been supportive and fun (it can get a little scary or lonely at times)… but hey, no point whining about what can now change!  I ’ve just found out that they’ve recently started a BOOMING Ning social site, which includes local groups getting organized for lively local chaos.  To get a taste of ImprovEverywhere’s ‘art’, the below video is probably my favorite ‘mission’ by the NY group yet….over 200 ’secret agents’ spontaneiously freezing in the NY subway.  Brilliant!  It seems that most of their events are just for fun, though I’m not sure.  Personally, I’d like to add some more ‘meaningful purpose’ to the events I’m a part of, but hey, maybe the deepest message one can say is “Have fun”.  (Like the bumper sticker: “Maybe the Hokey-Pokey IS what its all about!”)Enjoy!