Turning off to think: thoughts about being “always on”

In a post a few days ago, I ranted a bit about how LIS schools need to take a more active role in embracing new technologies.

Though there is a lot of potential for great communication and collaboration in emerging technologies, it is important to shut down every once in a while for thought and reflection. These last few weeks I have been “on” more than I have been “off.”  There have been times – while running in the dark late at night – that I realized my entire day had been mediated through a screen. These are the instances when I have to consciously remind myself to reconnect with the world around me.

In Program or be Programmed Douglas Rushkoff writes:

Our computers live in the ticks of the clock. We live in the big spaces between those ticks, when the time actually passes. By becoming “always on,” we surrender time to a technology that knows and needs no such thing.

The ticks are so much richer when we occasionally shut down and remember to explore the “big spaces between.”