Too much consumption that trumps creation / So many images, obliteration / I could see how late the sun sets / But I’m installing new reality / Proliferate our new appendages / That relay all our new messages
Stephen Steinbrink, “Trust”, Arranged Waves, 2014.
Feeling empty lately? Me too. Maybe it’s just that I work from home and my days largely consist of switching between screens but most days I come up for air at some point fully dispossessed of my own body. It ebbs and flows, of course but I can’t help but think my dissatisfaction with real life has something to do with my ability to firehose information into my brain 24/7. When I look up, everything seems grayer.
I consider myself a creative person, but what do I create on a regular basis? I force myself to play guitar, and every once in a while I write a song, but how much more would I get done if I wasn’t gravitationally attracted to screens all day long? I’ve seriously considered ditching my iphone for a flip phone. Aside - Ideally, I would get a phone with a slide out keyboard but our tech billionaire overlords have decided we would all rather strap our computers directly to our face instead. But if I get rid of my smartphone, how would I accept my two-factor authentication pushes for work?
Even more bothersome - some of the things I still find enjoyable in analog life, adult rec league sports (lol, I know) and my artist collective, Meltwater Pulse, mainly communicate through online means: How would I respond to my kickball team group messages? How would I get feedback on the songs I do manage to record?
The big piece of advice for engaging your creative side tends to be “Get bored”. I’ve proven to myself that I can’t be trusted to stay away from technology long enough. Therefore, something major has to change. Right now, I’m not sure what that is…