There’s been a lot written about our relationship with technology over the past few years, so it’s hard to come up with a new angle. But I thought the new book Digital Exhaustion, by Paul Leonardi, offered some intriguing ways of thinking about this topic.
I interviewed Paul for the Before Breakfast podcast yesterday. He talked about how technology is wonderful, but switching between lots of different applications can drain energy, as does the need to check lots of different places. But in many cases, we can choose to use fewer applications. On the personal front, most applications are optional! But even at work, many people discover that they are using duplicate technologies, and could as a team decide to narrow this down. Please check out that interview for some suggestions on how to reclaim technology as a tool, rather than having it be a master.
And in the meantime, here’s another autumnal sonnet, called “Minnewaska.”
I’ve walked these paths before when autumn leaves
were also swirling — beeches, chestnuts, pines
that scatter needles — when the red that weaves
through cliff top ridges lit up sandstone lines.
Four years ago, the memory is clear.
I see us posing for those photos, smiles.
But 16 years? I know that I was here.
I know that as I walked these many miles
I saw these cliffs, they’ve barely changed since then,
but children who were carried now are grown.
The farm still sells those apples in a bin,
and now a pumpkin, standing all alone,
is marking days, and waiting for the cold,
and watching as the changing light burns gold.