Virtual Life

Like a lot of people who's lives have been profoundly affected by Covid19,  I've found myself thinking more and more about setting myself free from all financial burden and cycling off into the sunset. These thoughts probably  have to do with my lifelong craving for uncertainty and adventure. 

This thought of leaving it all behind usually forces me to consider the reality of doing such a thing. Previous experiences have taught me that embarking upon any lone journey is very different to the wanderlust fuelled imagination that saw only freedom and sunshine. I've tasted something of what it is to journey alone, self powered without support and I know that for me, loneliness on the road is something that is very hard to live with. 

Even if my only connection to the life I'd leave behind is my smart phone, I doubt that would benefit my quest for a new way of life - or at least the ongoing search for my ever burgeoning 'personal legend'. (The Alchemist)

Like most people, I have quite a few active social media accounts, but unlike most , I don't really engage with them regularly. I do try to post more and 'like' and 'share' more, but that behaviour just won't stick. I'm not anti social at all, I just don't like being drawn into virtual socialising as some kind of new world replacement for spending time in the actual company of friends and family. I've never liked being indoors or on computers and I'm quite sure that anything that sits me down to one spot can't be good for me.

The more I think about leaving, the more I remember how it was before the internet, certainly before smartphones and online shopping, and of course, before social gatherings became something you do by yourself. I think that is why I can't help seeing social media like a virtual prison that I am being drawn into, with more and more of the things we rely on daily being done using a smartphone; going shopping, writing letters, listening to music, taking pictures, reading a map and a many more things that all used to involve getting out of my chair, going somewhere and doing something that needed a different skill.  I mean, anyone can move one or two fingers over a screen - maybe evolution will turn us back into fish , this time with just a couple of really fast thumbs and a smartphone sized kangaroo pouch. I suppose our brains will get smaller too. 

That's all I've got to say about that this morning. Think I'll go for a cycle ride while the sun is out. I don't want to take my phone with me... but I probably will.