Unplugged

Our topic this week is unplugged. What exactly does unplugged mean? 

1.  To be disconnected from the world of electronic gadgets.
2.  To be unreachable through electronic means and not part of the collective electronic. 

Occasionally in my Facebook newsfeed a serene, rather idyllic photo of a  cabin in the mountains appears - perhaps next to a rolling stream or a lake and a question is posed, 

something like this- Would you live here for a year without your electronic devices -  cellphone, laptop, etc. for one million dollars? The amount of the incentive will vary in correlation with the time requirement. Of course 9 out of 10 replies swear they could and would take that bet.

 

I'd be betting against those who quickly assumed they could enjoy a brief respite from their normal daily routines. That's  simply not true. We inhabit a highly plugged-in world. So plugged in I doubt our bodies and minds could stand the shock of unplugging regardless of the financial reward.

 

I 'd take that bet against almost anyone - regardless of the ample food supply and available library, most people could not survive unplugged long enough to pocket the promised reward and the younger the person the greater their chances of failure. Someone approaching my age just might be able to pull off the challenge but there are no sure things.  We inhabit a highly plugged-in world. So plugged in I doubt our bodies and minds could stand the shock of unplugging regardless of the financial reward.

Now that is not to say we couldn't all benefit from going unplugged once in a while. We older folk are already schooled in the art of conversation and civil discourse, and if the cellphone were to suddenly fail we could easily fall back into the habit of looking someone in the eye while talking to them. Many of us more life experienced folks (ya gotta admit that sounds better than older folk) even prefer that type of communication. Occasionally circumstances prevent a true face-to-face conversation so when thousands of miles separate us - as we 5 members of the 5-on-1 blogger team with one in California, one in North Carolina and three spread around India- being plugged in allows us to communicate face-to-face although the 12-hour time difference certainly does make things interesting as we madly surf What's App.

Some of us are slowly leaving self-quarantine (whether that is smart has yet to be determined but it is happening daily nonetheless).  After having been sequestered with family for one to three months I suspect many folks wonder what was so appealing to face-to-face communication and are looking forward to sitting around a table with friends, with thumbs and fingers working overtime catching up on texting to the friend now sitting substantially closer than the recently mandated 6 feet, mask be damned.

I have been plugged in since 6th grade when I'd take my transistor radio to Mr. Shandera's class to sneak a listen to my beloved San Francisco Giants play baseball. Luckily he too was a baseball fan. Things basically took off from them with rapid technological advances leading to stereo transistor radios to AM/FM Cassette portables to boom boxes to the Sony Walkman and finally to the ubiquitous Apple iPod which then morphed into the iPhone and then even Dick Tracy's wrist watch phone/radio became a reality. It now even counts the number of steps you take daily and how many calories you burn. Give all that up?

I recall the days when there were 3 networks broadcasting to  our television sets and the broadcast day ended at midnight when the stations displayed a no signal pattern and played the Star Spangled Banner. Now we get up to 500 channels via satellite, cable, streaming sources - and there are still times when there is nothing good to watch unless you jump to Pay-Per-View. Sigh -the snowball keeps rolling downhill faster and faster and I haven't even mentioned scanners, HAM radios, FRS Radios - the selection is endless. Unplugging is tough to do. But I strongly encourage you to try it from time to time. Life is about balance and unplugging helps with that balance.

Now you do realize that unplugged also refers directly to music and the use of acoustic instruments. You didn't think I'd skip that one did you? First up is a song done in quarantine with acoustic instruments - this is something of a hybrid but very well done.

And lastly there is this spectacular version of Leonard Cohen's classic Hallelujah

Thus ends my quick shack take on unplugged.  Be sure to check my compatriots and see what they have to say about Unplugged, suggested by Padmini.     Ramana, Padmum, Sanjana & Conrad