Unplug Yourself

Could it be that the venerable New York Times actually imitates Mishpacha magazine? Could they possibly be taking their ideas from the Orthodox and using them as their own? Highly unlikely, but the facts are curious.

Exhibit A: My December 2011 Mishpacha column dealt with the stranglehold of modern technology on our modern necks. We have no time to be alone with ourselves, I wrote: iPads, iPhones, iTablets, and iApps leave us no time for the only “I” that really matters.

Exhibit B: Four weeks later, the Jan 1, 2012, New York Times featured a column by famous British travel writer Pico Iyer, entitled “The Joys of Quiet.” Iyer extols the virtues of letting go of our modern technological baggage and returning to the peace and quiet of being utterly alone with ourselves. Sound familiar?

Let’s give the Times the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps this was merely a coincidence. In any case, the Times column is fascinating, as Iyer describes a $2,285.00 per night hotel perched atop the Big Sur cliffs in California, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Part of its amenities: there are no TVs in the rooms. People come there for the stillness and the quiet. The next big thing in the travel industry, he writes, are “black hole resorts” which are extremely expensive. Among other luxuries, wireless is not available in the rooms. And there is a new “Freedom” software that allows one to disable for eight hours all Internet connections (apparently for those who have no willpower of their own — EF).

Evidently, busy and creative people are trying to find ways to unplug themselves from that which was once touted as life’s panacea: Time-saving gadgets, all-in-one adult toys like tiny phones that also take pictures, handle e-mail, log on to the Internet, and plug us in to the world. Enough, many are saying. Stop the world and let me off! I want some quiet so I can think and observe the world around me. Unplug me. Give me some relief from all the fancy thingumajigs and apps and all the social media that advertisers have convinced us that we simply MUST have. These time-saving devices leave us no time at all. Post-modern man is beginning to understand French philosopher Blaise P