Something’s Not Working

I’m on a retreat today. The first part of any retreat is beginning to slow down from the distractions that surround us. I was struck by this quote from Living Into Focus: Choosing What Matters in an Age of Distractions:

Something’s not working. “Labor-saving” devices make us busier. The faster computers go, the more time we give them. As highways and cars improve, we drive farther and vehicles become increasingly expensive. Email speeds communications but eats up greater amounts of time. With the ongoing invention of “essential” devices (even energy-efficent ones), we consume growing quantities of power…Too much of our lives are fragmented and frantic, leaving us frustrated.

One of our greatest challenges is learning to free ourselves from the tyranny of all the technology that is supposed to make our lives better. It’s not that the technology is bad; it’s that the technologies come with a price that we often don’t count on paying.

Living into Focus: Choosing What Matters in an Age of DistractionsBy Arthur Boers