So I’m glancing through the paper this morning, with the satellite receiver on so I could listen to Fox News (but not watch since the TV is in the shop), and there’s 3 pages of ideas for tech toy gift giving. HDTVs, iPods, portable CD players, jump drives, iPod speakers and headphones, remote controls, mobile phones, computers, Blackberries, and the list and ads went on ad nauseum. In real estate, as in most businesses, technology is such a necessity that we can never get away from it. Voice mail, email, text messages, live phone calls all seem to be a necessary part of life. Yet it seems to me that all these things that were supposed to make our lives easier, more productive and wealthier have become such an intrusion in our lives that sometimes I really resent it! When the phone rings at my house, my lovely wife will ask me if I’m gonna answer it. When I reply no, she always says, “what if it’s important?.” To which I say, “if it’s important, they’ll leave a message.” Sometimes she doesn’t get that I’m sick of technology since I’ve been “connected” for the last 12 hours and have only one desire at that point and that is to totally disengage, sit on the patio with a cup of coffee or some other beverage of choice and unwind.
When I was a kid, my parents encouraged me to have quiet time everyday. It might be for reading a book, reflecting on or starting the day, or simply to just let the mind rest. As I was reading the paper with all the extraneous background noise, I wondered, “whatever happened to quiet?” Why must we constantly have some sort of visual or audible stimulation? Have we become so insensitive to the simpler things of life that we can’t survive without all the “stuff” we think we must absolutely have to get us through the day?
Oh well, must get to the rest of the email, start making phone calls and texting business associates and clients, scrambling for the next sale since I do have to feed the family and pay the mortgage, and get the brain engaged for another 12 hour day. I can’t wait for 9PM so I can have a little more peace and quiet.
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