In his article, “What Happened to Downtime? The Extinction of Deep Thinking & Sacred Space,” in The 99 Percent
Scott Belsky, says that we are losing interruption-free space.
“In the digital era we live in, we are losing hold of the few sacred spaces that remain untouched by email, the internet, people, and other forms of distraction. Our cars now have mobile phone integration and a thousand satellite radio stations. When walking from one place to another, we have our devices streaming data from dozens of sources. Even at our bedside, we now have our iPads with heaps of digital apps and the world’s information at our fingertips,” wrote Belsky, the CEO of Behance and author of the national bestselling book Making Ideas Happen.
One potential solution he offers is the adoption of rituals for unplugging.
“Perhaps those in biblical times knew what was in store for us when they created the Sabbath? The notion of a day every week reserved for reflection has become more important than ever before. It’s about more than just refraining from work. It’s about unplugging. The recent Sabbath Manifesto movement has received mainstream, secular accolades for the concept of ritualizing the period of disconnection. Perhaps you will reserve one day on the weekend where you force yourself to disconnect? At first, such efforts will feel very uncomfortable. You will deal with a bout of “connection withdrawal,” but stay with it.
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Read the entire article here.