The Deep Settled Mind of the Soto School … and Texting, etc.

Tongue in cheek on the picture. I suppose genuine interaction is possible through texting but I wonder if we really need all of these ways to talk about who is saying what to whom, our exact location on the planet at every given time, the color of the carpet in the airport, etc. 

I’m not anti-technology by any means. This, after all, is my 504 blog post in 2 1/2 years! 

However, I am concerned about “young people these days” and how the cyberwhirl encourages distraction, making doing things that require sustained awareness more difficult, and decreasing enjoyment in the simple things – like a long, face-to-face conversation or concentrating deeply on this sweet life. And the likelihood of genuine transmission to the digital generation.

A younger friend recently told me about going out to dinner with her mom and sisters and how they used to talk and talk. Now all the sisters sit and text. When the mom complains, they text each other complaining about their mom’s complaints!

Here’s a couple recent pieces from the NYTimes on this theme:

“Growing up Digital: Wired for Distraction” and “When the Mind Wanders, Happiness also Strays.” 

Are you concerned about this?