Lately, completely unplugging from this crazy world and retreating to a cabin in the woods has become more and more appealing. However, I greatly enjoy the positives of technology and the internet; after all, I am a blogger. This left me in a conundrum: how do I disconnect but still stay connected? Why can’t we live the best of both worlds? To answer this, I came up with a list of ways to disconnect and create more balance in life. During this process, I noticed something profound. Withdrawing, even just a little bit from the internet and technology, is essentially learning to live a more old-fashioned life.
Because I ended up with such a comprehensive list of ideas to live a more old-fashioned life, I broke it down into various categories to share over the coming weeks. Along with that, I will be covering how to live more old-fashioned by limiting tech and transitioning our hearts into more old-fashioned values. Depending on how much you want to pull back from the internet, you can pick and choose the ideas that work best for you and your family. Some ideas are more in-depth than others. My intention is not for you to use every single idea—I am a firm believer that we cannot try to recreate the past. Instead, we can use the wisdom of the past in conjunction with today’s technology to create meaningful lives we are truly happy in.
A More Old-Fashioned Life – Why?
To be honest, I am choosing this path because I don’t like the direction our culture is going. Maybe you feel exactly the same way.
Sure, technology can help us stay in touch with those we are already connected to in real life, and that’s a genuinely good thing. We can even meet new people through social media who share our unique interests; that’s a pretty great thing, too.
But, as much as I enjoy the internet and social media, I believe it has helped fuel the cultural disconnect we see today. It’s no secret that we are experiencing deep divides and a fragmenting of our society. Unfortunately, I’ve heard about too many people who are no longer speaking to family members, or lifelong friendships ending due to this intense polarization.
I also believe the internet, more specifically social media, is causing many people to be profoundly unhappy and discontented with their daily lives. Many are feeling a greater sense of loneliness while still deeply desiring connection with others. Social media is billed as “connecting and unifying,” but more and more individuals are feeling isolated. The heavy reliance on the digital world is simply not helping them.
Just think about it: why are we still digital “friends” with people who have absolutely no bearing on our current lives? Some people on our friends list we only knew as casual acquaintances ten years ago, or maybe we took a single class with them back in college. Unless this person is someone you would actually get a cup of coffee with today, why are we worrying about what they think of us?
Big Picture Lens vs. Community Sized Lens
A lot of us view the world primarily through the internet now; let’s call it the big picture lens. This can be a positive thing by opening us up to new places and experiences, thereby expanding our understanding of the world and other people. We are able to stay connected and up-to-date with a wider circle of people.
However, it can also be a massive negative if too much of our lives and existence wrapped up in the internet—especially when it becomes an addiction or a massive time drain. A lot of tech devices now tell you exactly how many hours a week you’ve spent on them. Take a look at that number on your device.
Are the hours you spent online consistent with the life you truly want to live?
To take the benefits of using the internet but leave behind the negatives, we need to cultivate an equal community sized lens to balance our lives. What I mean by that is having a real, tangible life offline with family and friends.
This looks like a life that is active at your local church, or one involved in a local civic organization to better your community and get to know your neighbors. It means building real bonds and relationships. Think of the way our grandparent’s generation lived as a source of inspiration.
Before computers, our worlds were smaller, more localized, and better defined. Most people had a physical address book of people they sent Christmas cards to, but they had a much smaller amount of people they regularly “did life” with.
If we look at our lives through both lenses, we can still see the big picture of the world around us. We can remain informed and enjoy the benefits of the internet, all while understanding that our real lives are the ones we build within the community immediately around us.
Just in my lifetime, I have seen the culture go from an almost completely community-sized lens before computers to an almost exclusively big-picture lens, a shift that accelerated rapidly over the last 18 months.
We can absolutely have the best of both lenses, though; it’s all about developing the right balance between the two.
Bringing the Community Sized Lens Back Into Focus
In the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing concrete ways to bring this community-sized lens back into focus a bit. By looking at the ways we lived before the internet, we can successfully reintegrate the best of the past into our modern today. It’s called living a more old-fashioned life, and it’s time to bring ourselves back into balance.
Explore the “A More Old-Fashioned Life” Series
- Planning & Communication
- Homemaking
- Quality Family Time
- Hobbies
- Money Management
- Holiday Edition: A More Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving
- Holiday Edition: A More Old-Fashioned Christmas