It’s late. I’m sitting cross-legged on my bed. The glow of the laptop is the brightest thing in the room at the moment. I’m in a staring contest with the blinking cursor of a blank Word document. I’m losing.
I don’t dare turn on the 50-inch T.V., pull out my phone, or even slide the cursor to the left and down on the laptop because of the distractions.
Don’t ask me what’s new on Netflix or Hulu.
Youtube? Forget about it – that easily turns into a two hour montage of video after video for me.
How do we do what’s required of us and still guiltlessly indulge in a little digital diversion?
Stop looking at technology as something for work and not for play. To restrict technology to only a fraction of its potential is the same as restricting ourselves to only a fraction of what we’re capable of.
Both work and play deserve a seat at the pixelated table. We have the duty to play just as much as we have the duty to work. We must not worry about what the outcome will be after devoting a half hour to Youtube, an hour to Netflix, or multiple hours to Hulu (I really like Hulu).
We should have no more guilt or shame about watching TV during finals week than a man should crying in a crowd. We are “enlightened” after all, aren’t we?
We all have the duty to use technology for work and for play.
Why?
Because of The Pleasure Principle (based on the ideas by Sigmund Freud and Janet Jackson)
4 Ways to Channel Your Inner Digital Deontologist:
1. The action is more important than the consequences. Do not deny yourself the pleasure of streaming, video gaming, or simply getting lost in Instagram selfies and food pictures because you see no industrious outcome coming from it. Do it because it’s your duty.
2. Complete Your Tasks. Remember, morality is duty and duty is morality. Treat work and fun the same. As the same, they should both be done to their entirety, their completion. Put yourself wholly into work and into play.
3. Bring Balance Back. As an English major, I find few things more comforting than lying between a set of new sheets with a crisp work of fiction in my hands, paperback preferably. Go for a walk or jog around the block or a park. Lie in the sun at that same park. Whatever it is, go analog on occasion. If you need to, digitally detract.
4. Batteries Die. So Do We. If your phone was down to 20 percent, what would you do? Who would you call? What would you look up? Ever notice how we tend to use our phones, any technology really, more efficiently when we know that battery’s going to run out? Well, let’s apply that methodology to our lives.
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